iversity of Cj
Southern Re^
Library Facil
RARY
;rsity of
IFORNIA
DIEGO
Oversize
Sni^ood
Zhc Dictovia Ibistor^ of the
(Tounties of Enolanb
EDITED BY WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A.
A HISTORY OF
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
VOLUME HI
THE
VICTORIA HISTORY
OF THE COUNTIES
OF ENGLAND
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
PUBLISHED FOR
THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH
REPRINTED FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITION OF 1930
BY
DAWSONS OF PALL MALL
FOLKESTONE & LONDON
1970
Published by
The St. Catherine Press
in 1930
Reprinted for the University of London
Institute of Historical Research
by
Dawsons of Pall Mall
Cannon House
Folkestone, Kent, England
1970
ISBN o J129 04S1 4
Primed III drear Ilriiaiii
by I'hololuhoxraphy
Untuin liroihcn Umitcd
WokiiiK and London
INSCRIBED
TO THE MEMORY OF
HER LATE MAJESTY
QUEEN VICTORIA
WHO GRACIOUSLY GAVE
THE TITLE TO AND
ACCEPTED THE
DEDICATION OF
THIS HISTORY
%
THE
VICTORIA HISTORY
OF THE COUNTY OF
NORTHAMPTON
Edited by WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A.
VOLUME THREE
PUBLISHED FOR
THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH
REPRINTED BY
DAWSONS OF PALL MALL
FOLKESTONE & LONDON
CONTENTS OF VOLUME THREE
Dedication
Contents .
List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Editorial Note .
Topography
PACE
V
ix
xi
XV
Northampton Borough
Polebrook Hundred
Introduction
Barnwell St. Andrew
Benefield
Hemington
Luddington
Oundle
Polebrook
Thurning
Warmington
Navisford Hundred
Introduction
Clapton
Pilton
Stoke Doyle
Thorpe Achurch .
Thrapston
General descriptions and manorial descents compiled under
the superintendence of William Pace, F.S.A. ; Architectural
descriptions, except where otherwise stated, by F. H. Cheet-
HAM, F.S.A. ; Heraldic drawings and blazon by the Rev. E. E.
DoRLiNC, M.A., F.S..^. ; Charities from information supplied
by J. R. Smith, of the Charity Commission
By Helen M. Cam, M.A. ; Architectural descriptions by
F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A., and Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson,
M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A I
By John Brownbill, M.A.
By Charlotte M. Calthrop, Class.Trip.
Bv John Brownbill, M.A. ; Architectural descriptions by
F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A., and Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson,
M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A
By Charlotte M. Calthrop, Class. Trip. ; Architectural
descriptions by Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt.,
F.S.A., and F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A. ....
68
71
76
80
83
85
lOI
By John Brownbill, M.A. ....... 109
„ „ „ ,, ; Arcliitectural descriptions by
F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A., and Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson,
M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A 113
By Catherine M. Jamison, Oxford Hon. School of Mod. Hist. 123
ji >f II II II II II II II II **5
•I 11 II 11 )} II II II II II
Architectural descriptions by Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson,
M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A., and F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A. . . 129
By Catherine M. Jamison, Oxford Hon. School of Mod. Hist. 132
II II II II II II II II II II *35
Architectural descriptions by Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson,
M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A., and F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A. . 139
IX
CONTENTS OF VOLUME THREE
Topography (continued)
Navisford Hundred {continued)
By Maud E. Simkins ; Architectural descriptions by Prof.
A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A., and F. H.
Cheetham, F.S.A. ........
By Helen Douglas Irvine, M.A. .....
„ „ ,, „ „ ; Description of Lyveden
Old and New Buildings by J. A. Gotch, M.A., F.S.A. .
By Charlotte M. Caltiirop, Class. Trip.
By Catherine Jamison, Oxford Hon. School of Mod. Hist. .
Titchmarsh . . By Catherine Jamison, Oxford Hon. School of Mod. Hist.
Wadenhoe . . „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „
Huxloe Hundred
Introduction . . „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „
Addington, Great
Addington, Little
Aldwinkle All Saints
Aldwinkle St. Peter
Barnwell All Saints
Barton Seagrave
Burton Latimer
Cranford St. Andrew
Cranford St. John
Denford
Finedon
Grafton Underwood
Irthlingborough
Islip
Kettering . . By F. W. Bull, F.S.A. and William Pace, F.S.A. ; Architec-
tural descriptions by F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A., and Prof.
A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A. .
Lilford-with-Wigsthorpe By Maud E. Simkins ; Description of Lilford Hall by J. A.
Gotch, M.A., F.S.A
Architectural descriptions by Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson,
M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A., and F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A.
By Catherine Jamison, Oxford. Hon. School of Mod. Hist.
By Helen Douglas Irvine, M.A.
By Maud E. Simkins
Lowrick
Slipton
Sudborough
Twywell
Warkton
Woodford
By Maud E. Simkins ; Architectural descriptions by F. H.
Cheetham, F.S.A., and Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A.,
D.Litt., F.S.A. ; Description of Drayton House by Prof. A.
Hamilton Thompson .......
Bv Maud E. Simkins
„ „ „ ; Architectural descriptions by Prof. A.
Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A., and F. H.
Cheetham, F.S.A. ........
By Catherine Jamison, Oxford Hon. School of Mod. Hist.
By Maup F.. Simkins ; Architectural descriptions by F. H.
Cheetham, F.S.A., and Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A.,
D.Litt., F.S.A
By Caihkrine Jamison, Oxford Hon. School of Mod. Hist. ;
Architectural descriptions by F. H. Cheetham, F.S.A., and
Prof. A. Hamilton Thompson, M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A.
Borough of Higham Ferrers By Charlotte M. Calthrop, Class. Trip.
Higham Park . . „ „ „ „ „ „
142
149
'53
«55
160
164
168
'73
176
180
186
189
192
196
203
207
215
218
227
231
243
24s
248
252
25s
263
279
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PACE
JTontisfitci
jull-page plate Jacing 8
13
Jull-page plate facing 18
20
full-page plate facing 30
. 3*
, plate facing 34
Northampton Pastures. ......
„ Plan of Borough 1610 (based on Speed's map)
„ The Swan Hotel .....
„ Plan of Borough 1746 ....
„ The Bell Inn
,, Plan of Borough 1810 ....
„ Castle Plan
„ „ Wall (demolished)
Old Town Hall
„ The County Hall 36
„ The Town Hall 37
„ The Hazelrigg Mansion, now the Ladies' Club ....... 38
„ Dr. Danver's House ........... 39
„ St. Peter's Church Plan 4I
., ,. >. ., Capital 42
„ „ „ „ from the North-west -^
„ „ „ ,, The Interior, looking East J
}
, plate facing 42
H
.. .1 .1 Capital
.
43
»
Church of the Holy Sepulchre Plan ....
.
44
»
,, „ „ „ from the South-east ~»
„ „ „ „ The Interior : Tlie Round J
. plate facing
46
»
All Saints' Church : The Interior, looking East .
Jull-page plate facing
48
n
„ ,, „ from the South-east ....
. platefacing
49
IF
» » II Plan
.
49
>l
St. Giles' Church Plan
.
52
ft
„ „ „ from the South-cast ....
platefacing
52
I*
The Interior looking East
• i» II
53
n
St. John's Hospital : The Master's House (now desiroved) .
II II
58
u
.1 1. » Pl^n
.
59
i>
St. Thomas' Hospital (now destroyed) ....
platefacing
60
Barnwell St.
Andrew Castle Plan ........
.
70
» II
.1 in '729
platefacing
70
» »
>> II ........
72
» II
„ Latham Almshouses ......
platefacing
72
»i 11
„ Church from the South-west ■»
n 11
„ „ The Interior ; The North Aisle J
• II II
/4
n 11
„ „ The South Porch
.
75
XI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
plate facing 84
86
}flaU facing 86
\. flate facing 88
PACE
Luddington Church from the South
„ „ The Interior, looking East .
Oundle : The WTiite Lion Hotel 86
,, before 1852
„ New Street in 1876
The Talbot Hotel 87
„ Laxton's School 88
„ St. Os}th's Lane
in 1710
„ The Market Place 9°
„ Paine's Almshouses 93
Church Plan 96
„ „ The Interior, looking East f late facing 96
Polebrook Church Plan 106
„ „ The Interior : View across the Nave ->
> . . . . plate facing 106
„ „ „ „ looking East J
„ „ from the West
„ „ Wall Arcade of North Chapel
Thurning Rectory .............. no
„ Church Plan 112
„ „ Interior, looking South-east ...... . plate facing 112
Warmington Church from the South-east
116
V ,. ., 107
}■
}. plate facing 120
„ „ The Pulpit
» » Plan 120
„ „ West Doorway
„ ,, The Interior, looking Eas
Pilton : Old Manor House „ „ 130
„ Church from the South . . . . . . . . . .,,,,131
Stoke Doyle Church : Monument to Sir Edward Ward » '34
Thorpe Achurch Church Plan . . . . . ■ . . . . . .138
„ „ „ from the North-east . plate facing 138
Thrapston Church from the North , „ 142
Titchmarsh Church Plan ............. 146
„ „ from the West
„ „ The Interior,
Wadenhoe Church Plan 151
„ „ The Font 152
„ „ from the South-west "»
™ , . , ,. P ,f p/d/^^n«^ 152
„ „ I he Interior, lookmg J'.ast J
xii
est ^
> . . . . . . . plate facing 1 46
r, looking East J
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Great Addington Church from the South
„ „ „ The Interior, looking Ea
Little Addington Church Doorway
» » •> Plan
„ „ „ from the South
Aldwinkle All Saints : Dryden's Birthplace
„ „ „ Church Plan
„ „ „ „ from the South-east
„ St. Peter : Lyveden New Building Plan
i> »» >» >» »> >»
*« ji f« »> V/lu If
J
}
}
„ „ „ Church from the South-west.
, „ The Interior, looking North-east
Barnwell All Saints : Old Church
Barton Seagrave Church Plan
„ „ „ from the North-west
„ „ „ The Interior of South Chancel
„ „ „ Tympanum of North Doorway . •
Burton Latimer Hall .......
„ „ Church Plan .....
„ „ „ from the South. . -^
„ „ „ The Interior, looking East J
Cranford St. Andrew Church from the South . ^
„ „ „ „ The Interior, looking East J
Cranford St. John Church from the South
„ „ „ „ The Interior
f> » »> i» rlan
Denford Church from the South-east
„ „ The Interior, looking East
» » Plan •
Finedon : Church Porch
„ „ Plan
„ „ from the West
» ,, The Organ . . -v
,, „ The Interior, looking East J
Grafton Underwood Church Plan
„ „ „ from the East . "\
„ „ „ The Interior, looking East J
Irthlingborough • The Market Cross ....
xiii
South . . ->
rior, looking East J
plate facing 158
. 160
. 162
plate facing 162
. . 164
. 166
plate facing 166
. 168
plate facing 168
,, „ '72
., „ '73
.. .. "74
. . 178
plate facing 178
., ., 179
. 180
. 184
plate facing 1 84
., „ 190
. 191
plate Jacing 194
» .. '95
• 19s
• «97
. 200
plate facing 200
201
205
platefacing 206
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PACI
Irthlingborough Church Plan . . . . . . . . . . . .210
„ „ Tower -» , , .
™, T • 1 L- 17 )» • • • • • p'tiif facing 210
„ „ 1 he Interior, looking tast J t j a
Islip Church from the South-east
„ „ The Interior, looking Eas
V ,. ., 2>6
ast J
Kettering : Old House, Hazelwood Lane
218
}
„ Sawyer Almshouses
„ Church Plan ............. 222
„ „ from the South -\
„ „ The Interior, looking East j ' ' " ' ' • r J ' S
„ „ Porch 223
Lilford Church Ruin ............. 230
Lowick : Drayton House in 1729 ......... flate facing 232
}
,, 233
„ » „ Plan (adapted from plan lent by Mr. J. A. Gotch) . . „ „ 234
» „ » Gates 236
„ Church Plan ............. 240
„ „ from the South-west ......... flal^f^cir.g 240
„ „ Screen to South Chapel ........„„ 241
Sudborough : Anglo-Saxon Cross ............ 246
„ Church from the South-east ........„„ 247
Twj'well Church from the South ............ 250
„ „ Easter Sepulchre , „ 251
» ,. Plan 251
Warkton Church : Monument to John Duke of Montagu, d. 1749
„ „ „ „ Mary Duchess of Montagu, d. I
» .. » » Mary „ „ „ d. 1775
»749 ^ latefacin
„ Mary Duchess of Montagu, d. 1751 J ' ' • f J S "54
Woodford Church from the South-east
d. 177s -,
„ Buccleuch, d. 1827 / ^^^
„ „ The Interior, looking East J
,, ., Plan 259
Higham Ferrers : The College in 1729 ......... f,LiU facing 262
„ „ The Square ........... 264
n ,, College Plan ........... 265
„ „ The Bede House ~i
> f late facing 266
„ „ The College J
„ „ Borough Seal . .......... 270
„ „ View of Church Tower and Stliool
„ „ The School and Cross
„ „ Church Plan ........... 274
„ „ „ from the North-east . . . . . ^
ff „ „ Interior showing Screen of Chancel ironi Chapel / '
» » ., Font 276
.\iv
> ..... l-hitf facing 270
LIST OF MAPS
PAGE
Index Map to the Hundred of Polebrook .......... 68
„ Navisford . . . . . . . . . .123
»» IF l»
•> » •• » » Huiloe ijj
XV
EDITORIAL NOTE
Since the publication of the second volume of the Victoria History oj
the County oj Northampton nearly a quarter of a century has elapsed.
The war and post-war difficulties put a stop to historical research and
caused the History to fall into abeyance for many years. The two local
editors, the Rev. R. M. Serjeantson, a scholar and a clergyman beloved
by all who knew him, and Sir William Ryland D. Adkins, an enthusiastic
supporter of historical research, have both passed away. It was not until
1925 that the late Mr. James Manfield, in order to resuscitate the History
of Northamptonshire, undertook to guarantee the cost of the publication
of this volume. Mr. Manlield died before the work on the History had
been begun, and his widow and executors have generously carried out
his intention. It is hoped that this volume may prove a suitable memorial
of his appreciation of local history and a fitting tribute to his liberality.
The Editor desires to express his thanks to the many helpers who
have added so much to the completeness and accuracy of the work: To
the Duke of Buccleuch for giving access to his valuable collections of
early deeds, which has assisted in elucidating the descents of many
manors. To Miss Joan Wake, for her untiring help in overcoming
difficulties and in obtaining local information. To Mr. J. A. Gotch,
Mr. L. M. Gotch, Professor A. Hamilton Thompson, Mr. H. F. Traylen,
Major Christopher A. Markham, Mr. W. Talbot Brown, Mr. G. D.
Hardinge-Tyler, Mr. Leslie T. Moore, and the Ven. Archdeacon A. I.
Greaves for the loan of plans and information regarding architectural
details. To the executors of the late Rev. R. M. Serjeantson for the
use of the valuable notes relating to the manors and churches collected
by Mr. Serjeantson. To Mr. W. R. Kew, the town clerk of North-
ampton ; Mr. Reginald W. Brown, librarian of the Public Library,
Northampton ; Mr. W. T. Mellows, the town clerk of Peterborough ;
Messrs. Nicholl Manisty and Co., solicitors to the Duke of Buccleuch ;
Mr. Hubert Elliot, his agent ; and Mr. L. M. Hewlett, for information
relating to the history of Northampton and manorial descents.
The Editor also wishes to acknowledge the assistance he has received
fron. those who have supplied him with local information and help with
regard to illustrations : The Right Rev. Mgr. Canon J. H. Ashmole,
Mr. T. W. Buckley, Mr. G. H. Capron, Mr. George E. Cove, the late
Mr. E. J. H. Felce, Mr. J. T. Foskett, Canon H. K. Fry, the Rev. H. B.
Gottwaltz, the late Mrs. Mary C. Hall, the Rev. A. S. Hazel, the Rev.
C. H. L. Hopper, Mrs. G. Ward Hunt, Captain Ward Hunt, R.N., the
xvii
EDITORIAL NOTE
late Rev. W. J. B. Kerr, Mr. H. M. King, Canon W. Smalley Law, the
Rev. C. B. Lucas, Canon A. M. Luckock, Mr. Joseph Simpson, Mr. H.J.
Smith, Mr. J. Stanyon, Messrs. John Taylor and Co., Mr. Beeby
Thompson, and the Rev. C. R. C. Wakefield.
The following have kindly read proofs and made corrections and
suggestions regarding them : Mr. G. E. Abbott, the Rev. A. G.
Bagshaw, the Rev. W. W. Baillie, the Rev. L. Seymour Clark, the Rev.
W. St. G. Coldwell, the Rev. H. A. Curtis, the Rev. G. M. Davidson,
the Rev. A. C. Dicker, the Rev. H. E. FitzHerbert, the Rev. J. P. Flood,
the Rev. C. G. Hodgson, the Rev. H. C. Holmes, the Rev. D. A. Jones,
Mr. C. E. Lamb, the Rev. F. H. Lang, the Rev. F. H. La Trobe, the
Rev. L. H. Lethbridge, the Rev. P. Lidster, the Rev. D. H. Meggy,
the Rev. J. E. Newby, the Rev. C. Reeder, the Rev. W. H. T. Russell,
Mr. C. H. M. D. Scott, the Rev. W. V. Tunks, and the Rev. R. C.
Thursfield.
xviu
A HISTORY OF
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
TOPOGRAPHY
THE BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
Ham tune (x cent.) ; Nor9hamtune, Northan-
tone (xi cent.) ; Norhthamtune, Norhanthon,
Norhantuna, Norhantona (xii cent.) ; Norhamptone
(town seal) (liii cent.).
Northampton, the county town, lies mainly to
the north and east of the River Nene, the oldest
part of the town being on a hill which rises from 194 ft.
above sea level at the west bridge near Castle station
to 294 ft. at the prison near the site of the old north
gate. The road from London and Old Stratford,
joined south of the river by the
road from Oxford and Tow-
cester, runs due north through
the town towards Market
Harborough and Leicester,
and is intersected at right
angles in the middle of the
town, at All Saints' Church,
by the road from Davcntry to
Little Billing. From here also,
roads run to Kettering and to
Wellingborough, and it is in
this direction that the chief
expansion in the igih and
20th centuries has taken place.
West of the river lie the
suburbs of Duston and Dallington, extending from
the medieval suburb of St. Jamas' End; to the south
of the river, and west and east of the London Road
lie the rapidly expanding suburbs of Far Cotton and
Hardingstone, beyond the medieval suburb of St.
Leonard's End. To the north, along the Market Har-
borougii ro'.d, the municip.ility now includes Kings-
thorpe, an independent royal manor in the Middle
Ages, and outside the parliamentary boundary until
1918. The remains of the town fields are seen in the
Race Course, once Northampton Heath, between the
Kettering and Market Harborough roads, where the
freemen had grazing rights down to 1882, and in
Cow Meadow, Calvesholme and Midsummer Meadow,
lying along the river to the south of the town.
The first plans for a railway, deposited in 1830,
show the line passing through Ashton, Roade and
Ellsworth, avoiding Northampton. In 1831 the
Corporation of Northampton, who owned an estate
at Bugbrooke, took up the same attitude as other
local landowners in opposing the project for a railway.
Borough or North-
AMPTOhf. Gulfs OH a
mount i-ert a castle with
three tmoers supported by
two leopards rampant or.
Later, however, they were acting with a committee
of inhabitants of the town in pressing for the line to
be brought as near to Northampton as possible.
Stephenson reported against the route through the
town. The bill for the railway was thrown out in 1832,
it was thought by the opposition of the landowners, but
a subsequent bill received the Royal assent on 6 May
1833. The London Midland and Scottish Railway
now runs from London through Northampton to
Rugby and the north ; lines run also to Leicester,
Kettering, Peterborough, Market Harborough and
Bedford. The station in Cotton End, known as
Bridge Street, was opened in 1845, the Castle Station
in 1859, the latter being enlarged in 1 881 so as to
become the chief station. The station in St. John's
Street was opened in 1872. The Grand Junction
Canal joins the Nene at Northampton, this branch
having been completed in 1815. Tram lines were
first laid down in the town in 1881 and were electrifie.1
in 1903. An early omnibus service was run to Welling-
borough, and since 1919 motor omnibus services
have run to the villages round the town and bring
in thousands of both buyers and sellers to the
market.
The earliest reference to Northampton in writing
occur.s in 914, and though the archasological evidence
clearly indicates occupation of the castle site in the
Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon periods,^ no settle-
ment of any importance seems to have existed
at Northampton before the time of the Danish con-
quest. The Danes appear to have made it a centre
for military and administrative purposes during the
thirty years of their undisturbed occupation (877-91 2) ;
by 918 ^ it had a jarl and an army dependent upon it,
whose territory extended to the Welland.^ Thus,
after its reconquest by Edward in 918 it naturally
became the centre of one of the new shires organised
in the district recovered from the Danes, and in 940 it
successfully resisted the invading forces of Anlaf
Guthfrithson, the Danish ruler of Northumbria.*
As in the case of other Danish towns, however,
the military centre seems to have rapidly become
a trading centre, for in loio it is described as a
' port,' and in spite of the burning in that year
by Thorkil's Danes* and the ravages of Edwin's
and Morcar's forces in 1065,* it possessed about
316 houses in 1086, and ranked between Warwick
' ^tioe. Arch. Sot. Rep. 1882, pp. 243-
251. On the evidence here given, the
caitle-roound itielf cannot be pre-
Norman ; V.C.H. Ncrihantt. i, 219.
' Accepting the chronology of W. J.
Corbett, Camb. Med. Hist, iii, 364.
• Angl. Sax. Chron. s.a. 921. (Parker
MS.)
' Simeon of Durham, Opera [Rolls Ser.],
ii, 93 [s.a. 939).
' Angl. Sax. Chron. (Laud. MS.)
• Angl. Sax. Chron. (Cott. MS.Tib. B iv.).
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
and Leicester in size7 It may have possessed three
churches, for Anglo-Saxon sculptured stones have
been found both at St. Sepulchre's and St. Peter's
churches,* and the early reference to All Saints' fair*
suggests that ihis church also may be pre-Norman.
In Domesdayi" Northampton has the marks of an
old county borough. It is extra-hundredal, being
rated in the Northants Geld Roll** at a quarter of a
hundred. It is characterised by heterogeneity of
tenure, containing 87 royal burgesses holding their
burgages of the King, whilst some 219 other houses
belong to 34 different lords. Of these lords, 24
hold other lands of the King in the county, and the
21 houses of Swain the son of Azur are explicitly
said to pertain to liis rural manor of Stoke Bruerne.
To the old borough, which held 60 royal burgesses
under Edward the Confessor, a new borough contain-
ing 40 royal burgesses had been added. Unlike the
majority of county boroughs, Northampton appears
to have no mint ;*^ on the other hand, it is unique
among Domesday boroughs in ha\'ing its farm assessed
at a fixed sum {£30 'os. od.), payable by the burgesses
to the sheriff. There is mention of a ' Durandus
prepositus,' *^ who may well have been the town
reeve and have acted in this matter as the sheriff's
subordinate. The ' portland ' mentioned on folio
219b seems on a balance of evidence to belong rather
to the carucated Stamford than to the hidated
Northampton.** There is no mention of a castle ;
its creation was to be the work of the first Norman
earl, and the Countess Judith, lady of 16 houses,
had not yet given place to her daughter's husband.
The other chief tenants were the Bishop of Coutances
(23 houses), the Count of Mortain (37 houses), and
William Peverel (32 houses). The ' waste ' con-
dition of 35J- houses is probably attributable to the
raid of 1065.
With the Norman Conquest Northampton became
a town of national importance. Its geographical
situation, ' in the middle of the kingdom,' as Geoffrey
Ic Scrope said in his opening speech at the Eyre of
Northampton in 1329,*'' made it a valuable strategical
point for a government wliich was determined to
control the north and west as well as the south and
cast, and even before the line of Scnlis earls had
died out, the castle built by the first of them had
been taken over as a royal residence and fortress.*'
The neighbourhood of the royal hunting lodges
of Silverstone and Kings Cliffe and the royal palace
of Geddington accounts, no doubt, for a large number
of brief royal visits,*' but its general convenience as a
meeting place is attested by the number of political,
social, ecclesiastical and mihtary events that occurred
here. Among the long series of councils and parlia-
ments held at Northampton, from the time of Henry I
to that of Richard II, may be mentioned the council
of 1 1 31, at which the barons of Henry I swore fealty to
Maud;'* that of 1 164 at which Becket was condemned
by the King's court and appealed to the Pope ;*'
that of 1 1 76, at which the assize of Northampton
was pubUshed j^" that of 121 1, in which John and the
Legate Pandulf had their famous deb.tte ;^'** that of
1232, in which the lands of the Earl of Chester
were partitioned ;^* that of 1318, at which Edward II
and Thomas of Lancaster came to terms for the time
being ;'^ the parliament of 1328, at which peace
was made with Scotland and the statute of Northamp-
ton was passed;^' and the parliament of 1380,
at which the imposition of the Poll Tax was decided
on.** The importance of the fairs of Northampton
is noticed below, and the town was also a favourite
centre for tournaments from the time of Henry III
to Edward III.** Many church councils and chapters
were held here,** and at least three crusades launched.
In February 1214, according to the chronicle of St.
Andrew's priory, 300 persons of both sexes took the
cross here ;*' in November 1 239, Richard of Cornwall
and nobles too many to enumerate, swore on the altar
of All Saints' that they would lead their troops that
year to the Holy Land ;*' in June 1268 the two sons
of Henry III, with 120 other knights and many others,
took the cross at Northampton.**
To its geographical position is due the part played
by Northampton in the various civil wars. It com-
manded one of the main roads from London to the
North, and was a good base for movements against
the west or south-west. In 1173 it was one of the
strongliolds that held out for Henry II, and next
year Wilham of Scotland made his submission there.**
In 1215 the first move of the insurgent barons was to
besiege Northampton,'* and the castle was one of
four which were to be given into their hands as a
' y.C.H. Kcribanis. i, 276.
• Cox and Scrjcantson, Hut. of Ch. oj
the Holy Sepulchre^ \orthantpt. p. 30;
R. M. Serjeantton, Hitt. of Ch. of St.
I'elrr, h'oitbampl. p. 12.
• See hfloWj under Fairs.
'" y.C.II. Northants. i, 301.
" Ellis, Gen. introd. to Dohiejday^ i, 186.
*' W. H. Stevenson suggested that coins
minted here may have been credited to
Southampton, whose Saxon name was
identical in form. A'ng. Hut. Met: xiv,
59&.
'* Gilbert, son of Durand, acted as
reeve in 1189-90 (Pipe Roll), and put hit
name to the first toHTi cuttumal. Bntcson,
Soto. Cuttowi, i, xli.
'* I'.C.II. Korthaitls. i, 2-S. It should
be observed, however, that carucates arc
found at Northampton in 1274 R'^t.
nund. ii, I.
*' Enii. Iliit. Rex. xxxix, 250. A similar
exprcsiion, Tfin^ujm tnrefjit medio^'it used
in ijjS at a Provincial Chapter of the
Benedictines (Wilkint, Conrilm. ii, 6x8).
'* liy 1133. R. M. Serjeantson. The
Castle of iVo/ thampt. p. 2.
*' For John's 30 visits see Rot. Lttt.
Pat. I. (Rcc. Com.), Itinerary of King
John. For Henry Ill's constant visits
see below under 'I'he Castle ; Edward II
was here in 1307, I33'>, 1310, 1311, 1317,
1318. (Chart. R.)
*' William of .Malmcsbury, Histona
Novelt.i. (Rolls Ser.) (f/i-iM /<''g«ra), ii. 534.
'• Ciron. Rog. de Hovedoii (Rolls Ser.),
i, 224-8.
" Ibid, ii, 89.
'"" .innal .Mon. (Rolls Ser.), 1,209-219,
not in 1210, as stated V.C.H. Northants.
ii, 9.
^* Bracton^t Notebook^ case 1273.
" Pari R. i, 453.
'• Ibid, ii, 28.
" Ibid. iii. 88.
*' 'I'uurnaments arranged to be held at
Northampton were forbidden in 1218,
1219, 1227, 1228, 1233, 1234, T237, 1241,
1247. 1249. [Sec Cal Pal. and Matthew
Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 88,
647 ; v, 54]. For tournament of 1265 see
below ; fur that at which Geoffrey le
Scrope was knighted under Edward II
sec Harris Nicolas, Scrope and Grosvenor
Rotlj i, 142, 144; for one in 1342, Muri-
muth (R.S.J, p. 124.
" At least 46 iicncdictinc chapters
were held here, and 20 chapters of
Augustinian canons. See below under
St. Andrew's Priory and St. James'
.\bbey. The lirst general chapter of
the Cistercian order in England met
here (between 1400 and 1104), and
Dominican chapters were licld here in
1231, 1271, 1272, 12S4, 1312, 1362.
(/r*i^'. Hist. Rev. xliv, 386. Serjeantsony
The RIack Fnars of Not thampt.)
" Corpus Christ! Coll. Camb. MS.
281 (2) s.a. 1214.
" Matthew Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls
Ser.), iii, 620.
" Annal Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 217.
" Chron. Rog. de Hoveden (Rolls Ser.),
ii, 54.
" ll'aliei of Coventry (Rolls Scr.),ii, ZI9.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
pledge for keeping Magna Carta.** It served as a base
in the siege of Bedford in 1224.** Its pivot.,1 position
comes out most strikingly in the campaigns of 1264-6.
The Royalist forces mustered by Henry at Oxford,
at the end of Marcli 1264, marched against Noriiiamp-
ton, which was held by the younger Simon de Montfort
and ' a great multitude '*• of knights and squires.
In the Cow Meadow adjoining the town William
Marshall, keeper of the peace, and Walter Hyldeburn,
assembled the community of the county and addressed
them, on behalf of the Earl of Leicester, on the
iniquities of the King's party. *^-^ The Prior of St.
Andrew's, a Frenchman, whose priory occupied
the north-west angle of the town fortifications,
facilitated the entry of the King's troops through
a breach in the garden wall,'' and the town was
taken and sacked ruthlessly by the Royalists, who,
according to Wykes, reduced a most flourishing
town to a most wretched state. ^ Fifty-five kniglits,
including Sir Hugh Gobion and Sir Baldwin Wake,
were taken prisoners*' and sent to various castles
for safe keeping, and at a later date to have been against
the King at Northampton was the measure of a man's
disloyalty.'* The story of the King's threat to hang
the students of the ephemeral university of Northamp-
ton* for their resistance to him occurs only in a 14th
century chronicle.*"' The town was, however, deprived
of its mayor and committed to the keeping of a royal
(ujloi,*^ Ralph de Hotot, who was to keep in touch
with the constable of the castle. In the autumn
that followed Lewes, when the King's government
was controlled by Leicester, the levies were assembled
at Northampton,** and a tournament was planned here
by the younger de Montforts for Easter 1265, which
was cancelled because of Gilbert de Clare's refusal
to come.** Later, when the younger Simon was
marching from the south to join his father in the west,
he went out of his way to go through Northampton,
counting, it would seem, on the warm support of the
town.** Again, after Evesham, Henry and his son
made Northampton the rendezvous for the troops
going against the isle of Axholm,** and held a council
here at Christmas, at which the younger Simon
surrendered himself.*' Northampton was also the
King's headquarters from April to June 1266.*'
With the town held in turn by the rival parties,
it is not surprising that the Jews took refuge
in a body in the castle,** and that the priory
suffered both from want and from failure to maintain
order.**
Eklward I made little use of Northampton as com-
pared with his father, though four parliaments
were held there by Edward II, and both parliaments
and assemblies of merchants'* by Edward III. The
parliament of 1380, however, some of whose sessions
were held in St. Andrew's Priory," was the last
to meet here, and in the 15th century Northampton
ceases to be a centre of national importance. Its
strategic significance was illustrated again in 1460.
In June of that year Warwick had landed from France
and been welcomed enthusiastically by London.
The forces of Henry VI moved from Coventry and
took up a position at Northampton to cut off London
from the nortli. On July 10 they were routed by the
forces of Warwick and March, marching from London
through Towcester, in the meadows south-east of the
town, between the river and Delapre Abbey. Henry VI
was taken prisoner, and his queen fled to Scotland.
We are told that the flight was watched by the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury from the hill of the Headless
Cross, which indicates that the Eleanor Cross on the
London Road outside the abbey grounds had already
had its top broken oflt.^^ Not till 1642 was North-
ampton to be as prominent again in national
politics.
Between the record of Domesday Book and the
first royal grant to the borough, almost exactly a
hundred years elapsed. In 11 85 the burgesses of
Northampton made a fine of 200 marks to hold their
town in chief,** and it is probably to this grant by
Henry II that John's charter refers.'* The consti-
tutional history of the intervening period is largely
conjectural, but for some of the time, at least, it must
have been bound up with that of the earls of North-
ampton.'' No earl is mentioned in Domesday ; it
is supposed that Simon de Senlis became earl after
his marriage with Waltheof's daughter Maud about
1089, and died on his return from the Holy Land
some time between nil and 1 113." He was the
founder of the Cluniac priory of St. Andrew's, the
builder of the first castle, the Norman churches of the
Holy Sepulchre and All Saints, and, according to
tradition, of the town wall. In 1 1 13 his widow married
David of Scotland,'''' who probably acted as guardian
to his stepson, the second Simon, the founder of
Delapre Abbey. By August 1138 Simon II had been
rewarded with the earldom for his loyalty to Stephen,
whom David was opposing.'* In 1153, when
Simon II died, his son, Simon III, the builder of
St. Peter's Church, was under age, and he only held
the earldom from 1 159 to 1183 or 1 184, when he died
without heirs.'* Various charters of the Senlis earls
are preserved in the cartulary of St. Andrew's priory.
One of the charters of Simon I is addressed to ' his
reeve of Northampton,' and those of Simon II are
addressed to ' his reeves and burgesses of Northampton
" Matthew Parii, Cbron. Maj. (Rolls
Str.), ii, 603. It JCtmi likely that it never
wai handed over in fact. A royal garrison
was holding it in October 1215. Mem.
Iii!lt. ie Covtniria fRolls Ser.), ii, 226.
" y.C.f/. Bidt. iii, 10.
» C.C.C.C. MS. 281 (2) s.a. 1264.
"• Hunter, Rol. Seltcti, 194.
" Anncl. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 229-30.
•• Ibid, iv, 145.
•' W. Rishanger. Chronica (Rolls Ser.),
p. 21.
•' Cat. Pat. 1258-66, pp. 311, 314, 316,
3'8,3»3>472, 555; 1266-72, pp. 66, 248.
•• I'.C.H. fiprthanls. ii, 15-17.
" Walter of Hcmingburgh, Ctroniccn
Eng. Hist. Soc), i, 311.
•' Cal. Pat. 1258-66, p. 315 (26 April
1264).
" Annal. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 234.
" Ibid, iv, 162.
" Ibid. 170.
*' Cal. Pat. 1258-66, pp. 520, 549.
" Corpus Christi Coll. Camb. MS.
2?i (2) t.a. 1265.
*' Cal Pal. 1258-66, pp. 581, 595, 664.
•* Ibid. p. 330-1.
*• Ibid. p. 403.
» Cal. Clase. 1333-37, P- ^77 i P- 5'7-
5' Pari. R. iii, 88.
*' Sorthanti. Nat. Hist. Soc. March
19C7; R. M. Serjeantson, The Battle of
Northampton.
'• Pipe R 31 Hen. II.
" Rot. Carl. (Rec. Com.), p. 45-6.
The grant to the burgesses of Lancaster
in 1199 refers to all llie liberties which
the burgesses of Northampton had on the
day that King Henry died. Rot. Cart.
(Rec. Com-.), p. 26.
*' R. ]M. Serjeantson, Origin and //is-
lory of the de Senlis Family [Assoc. Arch.
Soc. Rep. xxxi, 504 8.)
*• \Vm. Tarrer, //onors and Knights*
Fees^ ii, 296.
" Diet. .\ai. Biog. This is probably
the date at which the castle became
royal.
" Dugdale,.'/Bg/. A/on. v, 3^6; Round,
Geoff, de MandevilU, 28 ?.
" Diet. Sat. Biog.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
and to all his ministers of Northampton.'*' These
formulae are lacking from the charters of Simon III.
They indicate, as Dr. Tait has shown,*"* that for
part of the nth and 12th centuries Northampton
was a mesne borough, dependent, like Leicester, upon
its earl, and not directly upon the King. Granted by
Rufus to Simon I with the earldom, the town was
retained b} Henry I on his death, and was being farmed
by the Crown in 11 30.*' Stephen restored it to
Simon II with the earldom, but Henry II resumed it
in 1154,^'' and it was farmed by a royal official —
from 1 170 onwards, by the sherifE^^'' — up to 1185.
The death of Simon III may have made the King
the readier to grant the burgesses' request in tliat
year to farm the borough themselves, though the
concession was terminable. This farm had risen from
the ^30 los. od. of Domesday to ;^loo in 11 30, and
from 1 185 onwards it was £120 down to the 15th
century.*'- The right to pay the farm directly at the
Exchequer logically involved the right to elect reeves
or prepositos, and this right is expressly granted in the
first charter extant, that of 18 November 11 89, which
is preserved in the town archives at Northampton.*^
From 1 185 to 1197 the names of the two town reeves
are to be found on the Pipe Roll ;** after that year the
formula runs ' the burgesses of Northampton,' giving
no names.
Besides the grant of the Jirma burgi in fee-farm,
which made the concession of Henry II a permanency,
and the licence to choose their own reeve freely every
year, the privileges granted to the burgesses of
Northampton in 1 189 included the ratification of
established customs, the tenurial privileges of
warranty of lands, freedom from scotale and such
exactions, freedom from billeting ; the jurisdictional
privileges of freedom from external pleas, freedom
from the duel, and preservation of established- judicial
customs, a weekly court of husting to be held in the
town, and exemption from miskenning ; also freedom
from the murder fine and from arbitrary amercements ;
the commercial privileges of freedom from toll
throughout England, and the right of retaliation on
any borough which infringed this custom. The
privileges granted to Northampton were explicitly
modelled on those of London. It falls into that
group of boroughs, others of which were Norwich,
Lincoln and Oxford, which looked to London for
forms and precedents,*^ and on several occasions it
definitely and consciously copied London customs,**
if in some other respects, as will be shown, it
had affinities with its neighbour, the mesne
borough of Leicester. The clause confirming
ancient custom, grants to the burgesses ' all other
liberties and free customs which our citizens of London
have had or have . . . according to the liberties of the
city of London and the laws of the borough of North-
ampton.' *' This last phrase is almost certainly to be
associated with the oldest town custumal, wliich, as
Miss Bateson has shown,** belongs to much the same
date as the charter of Richard I. The town custumals
throw so much hght on the constitutional history
of the borough th.it it will be well to describe them
here. The Liber Custumarum preserved at Northamp-
ton, and printed in the ' Records of the Borough,'
is the last of four versions of the town customs.
The two oldest are in Latin and are preserved in a
14th century manuscript in the Bodleian Library .*•
The first, containing 24. clauses, is headed by a hst
of the forty burgesses who authorised the custumal
and swore to preserve it.'" Nine of these appear
on the Pipe Rolls as accounting for the farm of the
borough between 1 184 and 1196, and it seems certain
that the custumal was drawn up in connection with the
grant of the firma burgi, between 1 185 and II90.
The second custumal, containing 42 clauses, is headed
by a list of 24 burgesses, most of whom can be
identified as having flourished 1228-1264. Two of
the clauses of this custumal are dated and belong
to 1 25 1 and 1260 ; it may thus be assigned to round
about 1260. The next version is French, and is in a
manuscript now at the British IVIuseum,'^ but be-
longing to the town of Northampton as late as 1769,
and uniform in binding with the Liber Custumarum,
still in the possession of the corporation. It contains
58 articles, the first 56 adapted from those of the
two earlier custumals, the two last new. The latest
is dated 7 October 1 341. From this French version
was made an English translation, seemingly about
1461,'^ supplemented by further regulations and
ordinances, enrolled from time to time, as they were
carried in the town assembly or council, the whole
forming the Liber Custumarum, now preserved at
Northampton, the latest entry in which is dated
II October 1549.'*
The first custumal (c. 1 190) refers to bailiffs
who take distresses on behalf of the King,''* to reeves
or preposiii who intervene with an apparently higher
authority and can give a man entry, together with the
bailiff,'* and to the probi homines de placitis — the
suitors of a court at which transfers of land take place
for which the witness of these suitors is sufficient
warrant.'* There is no reference to a mayor; the
reeves seem to be the highest officials. Nor is there
any reference to a mayor in John's charter. Of this
charter, granted to the town in .April 1200, there are
two versions differing from each other at the precise
point where both differ from Richard's charter.
This is witli regard to the election of officials. The
" Cott. MS. \'c»p. E xvi! ; fo. 6 pre-
Jecto suo de Nortbampl. ; omnibus prtpositit
suit et burgemibui Northampt. ; Ricardo
Grimbaud el G. de liloueuite el omnibus
suit miniitris de Norlhampt. The charters
of the Scottlih King! in this MS. never
deicribe them ai Earli of Northampi.
"• En^L II, St. Rev. \\\\, 33;.
*' Pipe R. 31 Hen. I.
"» The exact moment when the change
occurs ii recorded in the Pipe Roll Ac-
count at Michaelmai, ■■;;. Red Ilk. of
/A«£Ari-A»y. (RolliSer,), ii, 6^5. I owe thi>
reference to the lindneii of Dr. Tait.
•"' /?b;;. Hisl. Rev. xlii, 352.
" Pipe R. 31 Ilcn. II.
" See Records oj the Boro. of Norlhtimpi.,
ed. Markham and Cox (cilcd henceforth
ai Roio Rec), frontispiece, for facsimile
of charter.
" Ibid, i, 21-23.
" Gross, Gild Merchant, i, 254. North-
ampton itself served as a model to
Grimsby and Lancaster.
"* E.g. Dowbell in 1391 (lioio Rec. i,
252), orphans' custody in 1599 (ibid, i,
124); common council in 1649 (ibid, ii,
21).
" Secundum Ubcriatcs Londoniarum et
leges burgi .Worhanitonte.
"* Bateson, Borough Customs, I, xli.
«• Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.), 98. fo. 158,
el se(].
'" hit sunt suhscripti qui providerunt
leges Norbampton' et iuriiveruni eas obser-
vnndits.
" Add. MS. 34308.
'! Boro. Rec. i, 208-236.
" Ibid, i, 341.
" CI. 19.
" CL .3.
"CI. 1,4, 16.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
, version on the charter roll" provides that two bur-
gesses were to be elected by the common counsel
of the vill and presented to the sheriff, who should
select one of them and present him to the cliief
justice at Westminster at the time of rendering his
account, to be prepositus of the town. The version
of the Cartae Antiquae'^ prondes that the two bur-
gesses elected should be presented to the chief justice
at Westminster and should serve as prepositi. Both
versions say that the officials so elected should only
be removable by the common counsel of the town,
and provide also for the election of four coroners" to
keep the pleas of the Crown and to see that the reeves
treat rich and poor alike justly. There is some diffi-
culty in deciding between the merits of the two
charters.** On the whole, the version of the Cartae
Antiquae seems the more likely to be correct.'"* Its
form was followed by Henry the third's charter of
1227," which merely adds that the two prepositi shall
be presented to the chief justice by the letters patent
of the vill, and this procedure was presumably fol-
lowed down to the charter of 1299, though the early
Exchequer rolls do not record the presentations.
The prepositi of 1227 are certainly the bailiffs of a
later date; indeed, as early as 1222 the Exchequer
addresses a writ to ' the mayor and bailiffs ' of
Northampton.*'^ Two prepositi, as we have seen,
appear on the Pipe Roll accounting for the farm as
early in 1 185. This is an additional reason for pre-
ferring the version of the Cartae Antiquae. Dr. Cox
assigns the first mayor to the reign of Richard I, but
there appears to be no evidence for the existence of a
mayor, so-called, save the handwriting of certain un-
dated deeds.*' As late as 1 21 2 John addressed to the
reeve and good men of Northampton a command to
lead the armed forces of the town, which is directed in
the cases of London and Lincoln to the mayors of
those cities.*' But three years later an unequivocally
dated document mentions what may well be the elec-
tion of the first mayor of Northampton. On 17 Feb-
ruary 1 215 John, then at Silverstone, addressed a writ
to his pood men {probi homines) of Northampton :
' Know that we have received William Thilly to be
your mayor. We therefore command you to be in-
tendent to him as your mayor, and to cause to be
elected twelve of tlie better and more discreet of your
town to expedite with him your affairs in your town.'*'
From this date onwards commands directed to the
mayor, coupled sometimes with the reeves or bailiffs
and sometimes with the good men of the town, occur
upon the Close and Patent Rolls,** though the reeves
are addressed by tliem selves on matters connected
with the Exchequer,*" and under Henry III the title
of bailiff soon displaces that of reeve altogether in the
royal commands whether on judicial or on financial
matters.**
Wilham Tilly, the first mayor of Northampton, is
also mentioned in a letter of Faukes de Brcaute to
Hubert de Burgh, which must fall between 1215 and
1 224.*' He held land in Flore : *" he, or a relation of
the same name, is mentioned in the 1260 custumal as
one of the burgesses appointed for levying a duty on
the sale of cloths to foreign merchant s,*! and his name
occurs in several early town deeds.''- He probably
held office for many years, as was usual among his
successors in the 13th century."^ The next mayors
mentioned by name are Robert de Leycester, who
occurs in a lawsuit in I229,''* and Robert le Especer,
who accounts at the Exchequer in 1231.'' Six other
mayors are named, from 1249 to 1272,** and six from
1273 to 1299.*' Under the charter of 1299, now
preserved at Northampton,** the burgesses were to
present the mayor-elect at the Exchequer every
year within the octave of Michaelmas, that he might
there take the oath pertaining to his office. From
1299 onwards the name of the mayor is enrolled on
the Michaelmas Presentationes of the Memoranda Roll
in the Exchequer, often accompanied by the names
of the burgesses who signed the letters patent pre-
senting him.'* The same names recur from year to
year, and are clearly those of the leading burgesses —
the mayor's colleagues and councillors. In 1478
Edward IV granted by letters patent that the mayor
might henceforth be sworn in before the town re-
corder at Northampton, without coming up to West-
minster.^ The re-election of the mayor, usual in the
14th century, was restricted in the isth. In 1437,
during the fourth mayoralty of John Sprygy, it was
" Printed Stubbs' Select Charters
306-7 J Rot. Cart. p. 45-6.
'• Coriae Aniiquae G. 15; Doro. Rec. i,
30-31.
'• In 1329 the burgesses said that this
unusually large number bad been granted
them for the convenience of merchants
{pur tie de mercbaunlr>j^ presumably that
they might scn'e in rotation. F.gerton
MS. (B.M.) 2811, fo. 250. The same
number had, however, been granted to
Lincoln, Gloucester, and Ipswich in the
lame year. Ballard, Borough CbarierSjij 247.
■•" The copy on the Cariae Autiquae
roll follows on a charter dated 1206, so it
cannot be strictly contemporary. It is
dated at Windsor 17 April, and that on
ihc Charter Roll at Westminster 20.\pril.
None of the three witnesses to the C.A.
version appears on the Charter Roll, which
gives only one witness. The version on
the Charter Roll has Salopcibir' written
for Northampton at one point, and then
corrected ; the charter, as far as the
dection of officials it concerned, is identical
with one to Shrewsbury, dated 20 April,
entered next but one on the roll. See
Rat. Carl. (Rec. Com.), p. 46.
'"•This is the opinion of Dr. Tait.
It seems probable that the Chancery
clerk assimilated the date and this
clause of the Northampton Charter to
that of Shrewsbury, which he was about
to copy. The retention of permission
to elect otie reeve from the charter of
Ii3<) may have contributed to the
confusion.
" Chart. R. 11 Hen. Ill, Part 1, m. 17.
•« Mem. R. (K.R.) 5, m. 4.
" Boro. Rec. ii. 548. All the deeds
which I have examined bearing the name
of William Tilly appear to belong to the
itth century.
'^ Rot. Lin. Cliius (Rec. Com.), i,
123b.
" Ibid, i, 188. If John meant by this
^rant to secure the loyalty of the towns-
men he failed, for in April they attacked
the royal garrison in the castle, which later
burnt half the town in revenge. Mem.
Willi, de Cuvenlrie (Rolls Scr.), ii, 219.
•• Rol. Lilt. Claus. i, 227b, 233b, 367,
383 43>-
"Ibid, i, loob, 112, 152, 155,1222.
"Ibid. 1,517, 550, 567, 586.
•• And. Cotresp. (P.R.O.) vol i, 66.
"> Kol. Liu. Claus. (Rec. Com.), i, 511b.
•' CI. 38 (fo. 162 v ).
" Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press
c. 7 ; Harl. Ch. 85, c. 1 ; Anct. D.
(P.R.O.) B 2484; Cott. MS. Tib. E.V.
147, fo. 16.
•' e.g. Robert le Spiccr, thrice ;
Robert, son of Henry, five times ; Pente-
cost dc Kershalton, four times.
" liractoii's Kolehook.
" Mem. R. (K..R.) ii, Adveiilus Vice-
comitum Mich.
•' Roger, son of Theobald, 1249-50
(deed at Lichborough) ; Benedict Dod.
(Pat.) ; William Gaugy {Rol. Hund.) j
Thomas Ken (Mem. R.) ; John le Specer
{Rol. Hund.) ; William, son of Thomas.
•' William le Pessoner {Rot. llutid.) ;
John de Staunford (Add. Ch.) ; Robert,
son of H-T.ry (Corporation Deeds) ;
John le Mcgre (Add. Ch.) ; Philip de
Horton (.' rize R.) ; and Peter de Ley-
ccstrc (Anc D.).
•' Boro. Rec. i, 57.
•• One such presentation is printed by
Madox, Firma Burgi, p. 153, and gives
the usual formula.
' Boro. Rec. i, 93.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
ordained that henceforth no mayor who had held office
for a whole year should be re-elected till seven years
had passed.2 In 1558 the assembly confirmed this,
adding that none should be chosen mayor oftener than
thrice,^ whilst in 1570 this was reduced to twice.''
The election of the mayors, to be held before Michael-
mas under the charter of 1299, took place about St.
Matthew's Day (21 September) in the 14th century,*
about St. Giles' Day (l September) in the l6th," and
was directed in 1618 to be held within ten days of the
first of August.' The mayor-elect was known as ' the
mayor's joint ' till Michaelmas, when he assumed
office.*
The charters of 1200 and of 1227 had stated that
the bailiffs, if well conducted, were only to be remov-
able by the common council of the town. All the
evidence indicates that they were elected annually
and served for a year only, rarely being re-elected.
They were the chief administrative officials, sharing
the judicial duties of the mayor,* and acted within the
borough as the sheriff did outside, with additional
duties, as the custumals show, in connection with the
industrial regulations. As the officials who executed
the king's writs, before 1257 by custom and after 1257
by charter, they were the king's bailiflfs and are some-
times so described.^* They were personally respon-
sible for the payment of the fee farm of the town at
the Exchequer, and the office, like the sheriff's, thus
entailed financial risks. ' Every year the men of the
town who are bailiffs are impoverished and made
beggars by reason of the aforesaid farm,' says the
petition of 1334.'^
The 13th century custumal refers to the mayor's
clerk as issuing the mayor's summons,'^ but the earhest
mention of a clerk by name is in connection with the
records. Ralph Barun witnesses deeds as clerk under
the first and third mayors,'^ and John, son of Eustace,
who had the customs of Northampton recorded for
the information of those who should come after, is
described in this second custumal as clerk of North-
ampton,''* and witnessed a deed as such in the
mayoralty of John le Especer.'* The town farm is
occasionally paid in at the Exchequer by a clerk. '^ In
the I4ih century the town clerk is called the clericus
memorandornni," which indicates his duty of keeping
the records of pleas and enrolments, and in 1419 John
Laucndon is called the < ommon clerk.'"
The letters close of 17 February 1 21 5 had com-
manded the ' good men ' to elect twelve of their
number to assist the mayor in the government of the
town. This was not then a general custom in English
boroughs, in spite of the statement in the Little
Domesday of Ipswich regarding the election of
12 portmen there in 1200. But if the number of
the mayor's advisers was twelve in the first half of the
13th century, by the second half we already seem to
trace the Twenty Four who were sharing the work of
government with him in the later middle ages.
Leicester, which offers both parallels and contrasts to
Northampton, had by 1225 set up its body of 24 sworn
men or jurats who were bound to come at the
summons of the alderman to give him help and counsel
in the affairs of the town.^" The second Northampton
custumal (c. 1260) is headed with the names of 24
jurati who passed the regulations,^' and whose consent
is later mentioned as necessary if a stranger wishes to
set up his stall in the market.^^ In spite of the gaps
in the records, ten out of the twenty-four can be
identified as having held office as baihff or mayor
before 1255. Moreover, the first regulation that
follows provides for a 2s. :;merccment of those who
fail to come at the mayor's summons. It would seem
that these are the Twenty Four who in the 14th
century act as the mayor's colleagues in official
transactions.^* In 1401 they are described as the
Twenty Four sworn of the Mayor's council^* and in
1415 as the Twenty Four comburgtnses ;** in 1473 they
are called his Twenty Four.^* The form of the oath
taken by the Twenty Four suggests that it was re-
administered each year.^' In 1442, at a busting held
in the council house at the Guildhall, it was agreed
by the Mayor and several of the Twenty Four that
heavy penalties should be imposed on those sworn
' as well to the mayor's counsel as to the secret counsel
{secreUtm consilium) of the town of Northampton '
who divulged discussions held therein.^* There is no
other reference to any privy council, and the resolution
probably refers to emergencies when there was a
special need of secrecy. It was re-enacted in 1557
with altered penalties.^* In 1 53 1 two mercers of the
town were said to be ' for ever put out of the Court
and CounccU of the seid toun of Norhampton, and
never to be sommoned ne takyn for any of the Com-
pany of the xxiiij" Comburgessesof the same toun . . .
and never have place ne seit within the Court of the
same toun whereas other tlie xxiiij" Comburgesses
do alvveise sirt, that is to sey within the barris comynly
called the Chequer of the seid Court.''"' This, hke
' lioro. Rer. i, 275-6.
• Ibid, ii, 30.
• Ibid ii, 31. This new order was
transgressed in 1575, and frequently later.
' See the dates of the letters patent of
the town enrolled on the Memoranda
Roll under Preieittattonfi.
' BoTO. Rr(. i, 122.
' Ibid. i. 128.
■ Ibid, ii, 33, 35, 548-
• Sec below, under 'I'own Courts.
" E.g. Assize R. 619, m. 75.
" Vori. R. ii, 85.
" Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.) <)S, fo. 160.
'• And. D. (I'.R.O.) B 2484 ; Add.
Ch. 22353, 34251.
" Bateson, Horough Cuilomi, I., xli.
" Add. Ch. 22347,
" Mem. R. (K.R.) 14, 17, 18, 20,
under Adventus yicicomttum,
" William de Burgo, Add. Ch. 22355.
'• Add. Ch. 732 (l). Other town clerks
mentioned are William dc Flore (c.
1292), William de Bray (1319), Honorius
Saucee (1351), John Molyncr (1358),
William Lichebarwc (1406), Lawrence
Qucnton (1408), and John Towcestcr
(1460-69).
"Gross, Gild Merchanl, ii, 116; cf.
Dr. Tait in Eng. Hist. Re-., xliv,
183.
"* Bateson, Rriords of the Borough of
LeiceiUr^ 1, xxxi, 34.
** Conitdcraciottfi facte per xxihj jurafoi
Northampton. Douce MS. 98, fo. iCo.
" Ibid, fo, 160 vo. (CI. 11).
" Sec Bridges, liiit. of Northauts. i,
364, Robert le Spicer motor North' et
fjusdern a-A'jm^ iurgcfijcj (135K) ; and the
petition of Richard Sidrnicsu'ortli in
1393, mentioning " the 24 chief men."
V.CJi. Northants. ii, 29.
•* Rvro Rfi. i, 241;, xxtitj tie coniilto suo
iiirati.
26 Ibid i, 243.
'* Ibid i, 405. Dr. Cox suggests that
the mayor's council numbered twelve in
1341, judging from the list of names on
Jioro Rcc. i, 235. The French original,
however, gives only eleven names;
Adam fiz Adam (iarlckmongcrc is only
one person. Tiie number of leading
burgesses mentioned in official trans-
actions varies from the sixteen addressed
by Henry III in 1264, to the ten, six, four
or two who sign the letters patent
presented annually at the Kxchcquer.
The burgesses mentioned can, however,
be .ilw.'iys shown to be ex-mayors or
cx-bailifTs.
"' " Vc shall gefe good and trew
councrll to your mcirc all this yere
ensuyng," Boro. Rec. i, 393.
" Ibid, i, 276-8.
''"* Ibid, ii, 20.
'" Ibid i, 425.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
another expulsion in 1 544, is authorised by the mayor
and ex-mayors, who bind themselves not to recall the
expelled but by the consent of all the mayors and ex-
mayors. By this time, then, an inner ring existed in
the town government, and though the act of 1489,
hereafter to be mentioned, had sanctioned the privi-
leges of the ex-mayors, it seems unhkcly that it created
them. The ' twenty four co-burgesses ' of the 16th
century town assembly books become from 1595
onwards ' the bailifT^ and ex-bailifls,' of varying
numbers, who wore distinctive gowns, and still
occasionally acted with the mayor and aldermen apart
from the rest of the assembly up to 1835,*' but iiad
resigned the control of town policy to ' the mayor's
brethren ' — soon to be called the aldermen. In the
15th century, however, the mayor's council seems to
have had considerable powers as the efTective town
executive. A number of ordinances for the crafts
were issued by its authority, after consultation with
the craft concerned.^* The wardens and sciiclurs of
the crafts reported before the mayor and his council ;**
they had some standing in the Court of Husting,
which is said on one occasion to have been regularly
summoned by the mayor, the coroner and the Twenty
Four.** They acted with the mayor in exercising
patronage and in assigning guardians to minors in
the mayor's custody.** The council met like the
husting on Mondays, at the Guildhall.'' In fact, in
the 15th century, the mayor's council, like the king's,
was a body exercising legislative, administrative and
judicial functions, and effectively directing the
supposedly popular assembly which met from time to
time at St. Giles'.
In addition to the officials already mentioned the
13th century custumal mentions a mayor's Serjeant,
or executive official, to whom the 15th century records
add four baihfTs' Serjeants,*' later to be known as
serjeants-at-mace. In the 15th century also appear
the two chamberlains who have custody with the
mayor of the common chest and of the town property**
and pay the mayor his allowance of twenty marks.
As at Exeter and Norwich, whose constitutions
were likewise modelled on that of London, there is
no trace of the existence of a merchant gild ; the
prepositura or provostry regulate all industrial matters.
Freemen were, however, sharply distinguished from
other residents. The second custumal (r. 1260)
provided that every native merchant who wished to
enter the freedom must pay 5s. 4d., whoever he was,*'
and this rate held good till 1341, vvhen it was reduced
to 6d. for sons of townsmen at lot and scot of the
town.''" It is probable that freemen and prdn homines
were the same ; sons of probi homines had to pay only
a halfpenny to be enrolled in a tithing, where strangers
had to pay 5d." In view of the high payment for
the freedom, one clause of the 13th century custumal
is of special interest : ' That no commune be made
henceforth by which the government {prepositura)
may lose its rights. If anyone be convicted of this
he shall incur the amercement of the town of 40s.
without remission.'*- There is other evidence of the
existence of an aristocracy envied by their less well-to-
do fellow-townsmen. The only original return extant
to the inquest of 1274-5** is described as being made
by the lesser folk of the town," and it complains
bitterly that the wealtjiicr burgesses escape the
burdens of citizenship. ' Divers burgesses holding
many and great rents in the town refuse to make
common cause with the community in tallages and
other things, with the result that a large number of
craftsmen {menestralli) have left the town because they
are too grievously tallaged.'** Some of the exemptions
from tallage to which the jurors refer arc enrolled upon
the Patent Roll.** They complain further that when
poor townsmen are put on assizes and have to go to
London and elsewhere on the business of the town,
it is at their own charges, whilst the rich men, if they
have to do business abroad on behalf of the town,
have all their expenses allowed them and the poor have
to pay for it.*' This kind of complaint was arising from
many towns in the 13th century,** notably from
Oxford,*' and it has recently been suggested that it
forms part of the wave of anti-aristocratic feeling
expressed in 1259 by the communitas bachelerie
Ane^Iiac.^ There is no record in Northampton of the
proclaiming of a commune as at London in 1262-3*'
or at Bury St. Edmunds in 1264,*- but we are told that
the bad example of the bachelarii of those towns
infected others,** and it would seem that such a
demonstration was apprehended by the drafters of
the second custumal. The ruthless sacking of the
town by the royahsts in 1 264 suggests that if the
priory was for the King, the townsfolk, like the
scholars, were for the barons, and tiie attribute of
Northampton in the medieval Ust of towns preserved
in the same manuscript with the custumal echoes the
term associated with turbulent democracy — -' Bache-
lerie de Norhampton.'** Already in the 13th century
it looks as if the town government was in the hands of
an ohgarchy, closed by custom, if not by ordinance.
Freedom in Northampton was probably the
equivalent of membership of the gild merchant in
towns where such existed ; its essence lay in the right
to ' marchaundizen ' in the town itself, and to claim
the town's chartered privileges of exemption from
toll and custom elsewhere.** In 1396 it was ordered
that no freeman need pay stallage, unless he had more
than one stall in the market.** A petition of 1433
" Boro. Re,, ii, 19.
>• Ibid i, 237, 245, 269, 273, 265, 294,
•:o9 (1401-1467).
" Ibid, i, 238. " Ibid, i, 260.
•» Ibid i, 242.
•• Ibid i, 260-276 passim.
" Ibid, i, 244, 250, 257.
■•Ibid i., 250, 251, 255-7.
•• Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.) 98, io. 160
Clause 2). The same fee is payable for
purchase of a stall. No stranger can hn\c
a stall but by consent of the 24 jurau^
fo. 160 »»■ (Clause 11).
*• B<iro. Rec. i, 235.
" Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.) 98, fo. 160 v°
(claus« 12).
'* Ibid. (o. 161 (clause 20).
'• Rot. Uund. ii, 1-5. There are three
returns at Lincoln, made by the gicatcr
the lesser and the ' secondary ' burgesses,
Ro: llund. i, 309, 315, 322.
" Ibid, ii, 5.
" Ibid, ii, 3.
•* Cal. Pal. 1258-66, pp. 532, 603.
" Rii. Uund. ii, 5.
•' York, Carlisle, Bristol, Lincoln, King's
Lynn, Norwich ; see F. F. Jacob, Studies m
Baronial R/jorm, p. 136, n.5. Stamford,
Grimsby, Gloucester, Winchester; see
Eng. Hill. Rev. v, 644-7.
•• Cal. Inq. Misc. i, no. 238.
"Jacob, pp. 127, 134.
** hiber dr Ant. Leg. (Camden Soc.
P- 55-
" Engl. Hist. Rrv. xxiv, 313-7.
" Annal. .Mon. (Rolls Ser.) iv, 138.
" Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.), 98, fo. 194 v°
(printed Fngl. Hist. Rn;. xvi, 502). It is
possible, however, that the expression has
a purely economic significance. See
below, on Trades of the Town.
" See Boro. Rrc. i, 378-So for letters of
exemption from toll, according to the
privileges of the borough, to be presented
by Northampton merchants when trading
elsewhere.
*" Boro. Rec. i, 262.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
shows that non-residents held the freedom as well as
residents." Certain judicial privileges of freemen are
mentioned ; the right to wage a single-handed law,'*
and exemption for the first year from service on
juries. '' Further regulations are found on the
assembly books when these begin. All members of
crafts could be made free of the borough by paying
zos.*** From 1606 there are lists of freemen from year
to year, as they were enrolled, down to 1833,*! and from
these it would appear that the fee for a freeman's son
was 3s. 4d., for an apprentice who had fulfilled his
term ids., and for an outsider ^5, in 1606. The fee for
outsiders was raised later. The freedom was granted
free to various deserving persons, and outsiders
marrying freemen's widows were admitted at a
reduced fee. In 1835*^ the commissioners found that
freedom could be acquired in five ways : by birth —
fee ^l 23. ; by marriage — fee ^^8 ^s. ; by apprentice-
ship— iee £1 15s. 6d. ; by purchase — feej^i5 4S. ; and
by gift. The freeman's oath, of loyalty to the King,
obedience to the mayor, contribution to town charges,
and keeping of the peace, is given in a 1 6th century
form in the iii^r Ca/;wOTrtrH?H.'' The assembly books
of 1568 give examples of the enforcement of these
duties on persons who had failed to keep their oaths
' taken at the time of their admission to the freedom
of the town.'** A 17th century version of the oath
in the British Museum custumal adds the words
' You shall take no apprentice for any less term than
seven years, by indenture, which indenture you shall
cause to be made by the town clerk . . . and enrolled
at the next court of hustings after his binding.''^
This clause was cut out of the freeman's oath by a
resolution of the assembly on 2 May 1778. From 1660
to 1733 freemen, whether resident or not, had the
parliamentary vote ; after 1733 only residents could
vote. Up to 1796 the freemen still had the monopoly
of trade, but the privilege was dropped in the new
charter of that year. In 1835 ^^^ town clerk estimated
the number of freemen at about 400.**
The town assembly, consisting presumably of the
whole body of freemen or probi homines, was held from
very early limes, according to Henry Lee,*' in the
churchyard of St. Giles for the election of the town
officials, and in St. Giles' churcji, according to the
Liber Cusliimarum, for the passing of municipal legisla-
tion.*® It was apparently summoned by the mayor,
and met on any day of the week except Saturday, the
market day, and only rarely on Monday, the meeting
day. As at Leicester and Chester,*' the meeting
about St. Denys' day seems to have been especially
important for craft business.™ In the 14th century
the assembly is described as a congregation, consisting
of the mayor, the Twenty Four, and the whole com-
monalty of the town.'* In the 15th century it is also
called a colloquium generate and a comyn semble.''* In one
case it is said that the mayor and the Twenty-Four
made certain provisions and ordinances at the special
petition of the commonalty,'* and it seems probable
that the ' commonalty ' did not retain much initiative.
On another occasion the commonalty confirms in
December an ordinance made by the mayor in Septem-
ber.'* Important craft ordinances were passed by
the mayor and his council without reference to the
assembly.'*
The assembly was to lose its popular character on
the pretext of its disorderly conduct, but there is
evidence of disputes within the town government
itself at an earlier date. In the eyre of 1329 complaint
was made that WilUam de Tekne (mayor 1309-10 and
1 3 14-15)'* and Wilham de Burgo, the town clerk,
had by colour of their office levied sums of money
from certain ex-baiUffs, broken into the common
chest, taken the common seal and sealed with it the
quittances which they gave to the bailiffs, thus de-
frauding the whole community. The jury, however,
acquitted the accused, saying that they had opened
the chest by the consent of the whole town because
of important affairs touching the welfare of the whole
community, and had not converted any of the town
funds to their own use." Again in 1326 or 1327 a
number of burgesses, some of whom were later mayors
of the town, making a confederacy with a convicted
clerk and a man in process of being outlawed, attacked
the mayor,VValter de PateshuU, who was also a coroner,
dragged him by the hair of his head out of his house,
and made him, in full court of Northampton, forswear
the office of coroner henceforth.'* Public opinion
seems to have been on the side of the rioters, for
though the deed was not denied, their substantial
fellow burgess John de Longue lalle" stood pledge
for five of the offenders and a royal pardon was forth-
coming for another.*"
The medieval phase in the borough's constitutional
history ends not so much with the incorporation of
the town by the charter of 14 March 1459, by the
name of the mayor, bailiffs and burgesses of Northamp-
ton,*' as with the passing of the act of 1489. This act
was almost certainly the result of the concerted action
of Leicester and Northampton. There is much
to make such joint action natural. There are several
later instances of the one borough seeking the other's
advice.** Commercial intercourse was close ; pay-
ments for entering tlic Leicester gild merchant were
made in Northampton fair, and Northampton mer-
chants traded at Leicester.*' Leicester, like North-
ampton, had 24 jurari originally elective ;** it had a
weekly portman moot with competence similar to
the Northampton husting ; its common hall corre-
sponded to the Northampton assembly.** By the
•' Boro. Rrc. i, 274. •• Ibid, i, 136.
" Ibifl. i, 263.
•" Assembly Book, 13 Oct. 1559.
*' Boro. Rtc, ii, 314-20.
" Pari. Papert 1835, vol. xxv, p. 1968.
" lioro. Rr:. i, 352.
' Ibid, ii, 313.
" Add MS. 34308, fo. 1 2d.
*' Part. Papm, 1835, vol. xxv, p. 1969.
"Top. MS. (Bodl. Lib.) Northanli,
C9. ColJcctioni of Henry Lcc. Town
Clerk of Northampton 1662-171;, p. 94.
Cited henceforth ai I.ee, Coll.
•• Boro. Rtc. i, 237, 247, 249, 261, etc.
" Batcson, Rec. Boro. 0/ Leics. i, xxx.
"• Boro. Rec. i, 235, 290, 307.
" Ibid, i, 26ij etc.
" Ibid. i. 300, 291.
'» Ibid, i, 275 (1437).
" Ibid, i, 264. '» Ibid, i, 269.
''Mem. R. (K. R.) 83, m. 79 d; 88,
m. 169.
" Ai»ize R. 63;, m. 66 d.
'* Ibid. m. 68 d.
" Mayor in 1333, 1334, 1340.
•*• Various other riots in the town are
mentioned about this date : in March 1314
an attempt to disturb the holding of an
8
AsBizc of Novel Disseisin, [Cal. Pat.
'3'3"'7>P' '4') 1 in Jan. 1328 a free fight
between the townsmen and Mortimcr'i
Welshmen {Cat. Pat. 1327-30, p. 423,
Assize R. 631;, m. 66d.) ; in March 1332
resist.'incc to Justices of oyer and terminer,
headed by the mayor and bailiffs (Cal.
Pat. 1330-34, p. 291).
•' Boro. Rec. i, 85-8.
" Bateson, Rec. 0/ Boro. of Leics. it ,
•34,438,47'- Boro. Rec. W, \c)i.
" Bateson, Rec. of Boro. of Ltict. i,
zxix, 2;o.
" Ibid, i, 40-42. " Ibid, it, xlvi.
-
PLAN
/
OLD NORTHAMPTON.
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\
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^- — -^
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Plan of Northampton Based on Speed's Map (i6io)
{ReprciJiiceJ by f>er minion of the Toivn Clerk qJ Northampton^
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
14th century its twenty-four jurati had become a
close body, the last election having occurred in 1273,"
and in the 15th century they also were called the com-
burgesses. In 1466 and 1467 orders were carried
excluding the common folk of Leicester who were not
gildsmcn from meetings of the common hall,
especially at the time of the election of the mayor."
As in the county courts, it would seem that the un-
enfranchised were crowding in and claiming an equal
share in elections with those worthy and substantial
burgesses who had for the last two hundred years
been effectively controlling the town government.
The corporations of Northampton and Leicester fell
back on Parliament to support their vested interests,
and in response to their petition or petitions two acts
were passed in the Parliament of Jan.-Feb. 1489,
which created in each town a body of 48 burgesses
who were henceforth to exercise the powers possessed
till then by the assembly at Northampton and the
common hall at Leicester. The wording of the two
acts was not identical, but their interpretation was
very similar. The act for Northampton opens ' For-
asmoche as of late greate divisions, dissentions and
discordcs have growen and been had as well in the
Townes and Boroughcs of Northampton and Leycester
as in other dyvers Townes . . . amongst the Inhabit-
auntes of the same, for the election and choyse of
Mayres, Bailies and other Officers within the same, by
reason that such multytude of the said Inhabitauntcs,
beyng of iytil substaunce and haveour, and of no
sadnes, discretion, wisdome ne reason, whiche oft in
nombre exced in their Assembles other that been
approved, discrete, sadde and well disposed persones,
haTC by . . . their Bandys, Confederacy s, Exclama-
cions and Hedynesse, used in the seid Assembles,
caused great trobles, divisions and discordes among
theym selfe, as well in the seid EUections, as in Asses-
syng of other lawf ull Charges ana Imposicions amongst
theym, to the subversion of the gode Rule, Govern-
aunce, and old Politilj demenyng of the seid Burghes,
and oft tymes to the greate breach of the Kyngs Peace
within the same, to the fere, drede and manyfold
perills that thereby may ensue'** . . . and provides
that henceforth the Mayor and his brethren the
ex-Mayors shall nominate 48 persons who have not
hitherto been mayors or bailiffs who shall, in conjunc-
tion with the mayor, the ex-mayors and the ex-bailiffs,
henceforth yearly elect the mayors and baiUffs for the
town. The Mayor and ex-mayors shall have power to
change the personnel of the 48 at will, and shall also
appoint all other town officials, the mayor having a
casting vote if the votes are equal.** The council
of the borough followed up this act by an order as to
the procedure to be followed in holding the elections
of mayors and bailiffs. ' Fyrst the day of the seide
eJeccion acustomed all tho that have voyces in the
same eleccions to mete at all halowe Chirche att a
convenient houre bi fore none and ther to here a
masse of the holy goste. And at the ende of the same
to departe and goo to the Gylde halde And ther to
take every man ther setes be the Assigment of the
Meire and of his brethern As schall Accorde with
thcire discrecions And then the Joyntes to be made
-Accordyng to the olde Custome. And the parsones
named in the Joyntes severyally to be settc in sondry
papyrs. And then the same papers to be borne
abowte bi the town Gierke and the Comen serieant for
the tyme beyng to every of the parsones thatt shall
geve voyces. As stylly as maybe. And every voyce
to be entrcd bi the seide Clerk to the names of the
seide parsones to Wliom tliey geve their voyces. And
whan the hole voyces be gcven and passed then the
seide clerke and serieant to bryng the papers to the
Meire for the tyme beyng. And to his brethern that
have ben meyres. And ther bi the sight of the more
parte of the seide voyces to puplisshe and make opyn
the persones uppon whom the eleccions rest. And
thys ordur to be folowed and thus done withoute
noyse or crye.'**' The council also issued an order
early in 1490 inflicting penalties on those who
should use seditious or slanderous words against the
mayor, his brethren, or the Twenty Four,*i clinching
it by an ordinance in 1495-6 which declared disobedi-
ence to the mayor to be perjury or broach of the
freeman's oath, and gave the mayor,' the King's chan-
cellor ' for his year in Northampton, power to deter-
mine such perjury and disobedience."'^ The act had
probably provoked opposition here at Leicester, where
the commonalty elected a rival mayor in opposition
to that chosen by the Forty Eight.'^
From this time onwards the government of the
town was in the hands of a closed body ; the mayor
and ex,-mayors (called aldermen from 1618),** the
Twenty Four (called ex-bailiffs from 1595),*^ and the
company of Forty Eight, who made up with the
others what was called from 1599 the common council
of the town.*' An oath, pre-reformation in form, to
be administered to the aldermen, indicates that they
were at first supposed roughly to represent the five
wards of the town.'' The charter of 1599 further
declared that the Eight and Forty should hold office
for life, unless removed according to the custom of
the town, and that the baiUffs could only be elected
from among the number of the Forty Eight.** This
finally closed the ring.
Throughout the middle ages only one town court
is named : the court of husting which the charter of
1189 provided should be held once only in the week.
Whether the various jurisdictions acquired by the
town were all exercised at this weekly court, or
whether other sessions were held with other names it
does not seem possible to say. The charter of H89
provided that no burgess should plead outside the
walls save in pleas of foreign tenures ; that right
should be done concerning lands and tenures within
the city according to its own customs ; and that pleas
of debt within the town should be held there. The
first custumal {c. 1190) is mainly concerned with
"• Bitcion, Rec. oj Boro. 0/ Leics. i, ii.
xlv.
•' Ibid, ii, 285-6.
"Pari. R. vi, 431.
•• The letter! patent exemplifying the
act, dated 28 March, 5 Hen. VII, are en-
rolled in the Brit. Mui. Cuitumal. Add.
MS. 34308 fo. 1 5 d-17.
" Ibid. fo. 17.
" BoTO. Rec. i, 312-4.
" Ibid, i, 338-9.
•" Bateson, Rec. oJ Bora, of Leics. ii,
326-7.
" Boro. Rfc. i, 127.
" Ibid. ii. 19.
•' Ibid, i, 121.
•' ' Ye ihall iwere that ye do name
persones other then have ben meires and
bailliffs of this borowe parte of them to be
dwcllyng severalli in every of the V.
quarters of this borough, and moste con-
venient nombre of them to be appoynted
dwellers in cvtry of the seide quarters.*
Add. MS 34308, fo. 15.
•' Boro. Rec. i, 122.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
matters of land tenure ; i6 out of its 24 chapters
deal with customs of inheritance, alienation and the
rights of the feudal lord. The witness of the ' men
of the pleas ' is frequently mentioned* as necessary for
transfers of land in the town court (undoubtedly the
husting), while the baihffs and coroners seem to be
needed to authorise seisin.* No records of the court
survive, but a large number of deeds, at Northampton
and elsewhere, register transfers of land that took
place in it, and illustrate the special customs of the
town. If a kinsman wished to assert his right of first
purchase, he had to make his ofiEer before three court
days had passed, after the feoffment of the stranger.'
In one early 13th century deed the court in which the
plea of land had been held is called the porthimoth' de
Norhant'.* No other instance of the use of this term
at Northampton has been found ; at Leicester and
Ipswich the court at which transfers of land took
place was called the portmannmot.^ Both baihffs and
prepositi are mentioned in connection with the court,*
and John's charter appoints coroners to see that the
prepositi do justice. At the end of the 12th century,
then, the weekly court was a court of record for land
cases and a court for the collection of debts and prob-
ably enforcement of contracts,' at which the prepositi
presided, royal writs were pleaded,* and the ' good
men of the pleas ' made the judgments.
The charter of 18 Jan. 1257 authorised a number of
jurisdictional privileges, some of which had certainly
been exercised before without express sanction.*
In consequence, probably, of the general enquiry into
royal rights in 1255, Thomas Kin, mayor of Northamp-
ton, appeared at the Exchequer and declared that the
burgesses of Northampton had always had the return
of writs, and the sheriff of Northants said that he had
found the town in possession of that right.** It was
this, probably, that led to the burgesses purchasing
their new Charter, in which, in common with some
seventeen other boroughs in the years 1255 to 1257,1*
they obtained the right to exclude the sheriff from
executing summons or distresses in the town and to
serve writs and summons of the Exchequer by their
own officials. Henceforth the baihffs took the sheriff's
place in the borough, and he could only intervene if
they neglected their duties. The charter also granted
that burgesses should not be convicted by strangers in
any trespass, appeal or criminal charge brought against
them, but only by their fellow-burgesses, unless con-
cerning matters touching the borough community.
Infangthef was also granted. Thus the town
courts now had jurisdiction over criminal matters,
excepting only those pleas of the crown whicli the
coroners kept against the coming of the justices in
eyre. The eyre roll of 1247 shows that even before
this grant thieves who admitted their crime had been
hanged by the judgment of the town court.*' The
eyre roll of 1285 mentions a case of appeal for defama-
tion in 'he court of Northampton.** In 1274 the
jurors said that the sheriff had never held his tourn
in Northampton, and that the town had a free court
with gallows, pillory, tumbril, assize of bread and ale
and all other liberties belonging the crown by royal
grant.** Both the custumal and the eyre rolls of
1253 and 1285 show that the frankpledge system was
operative in the borough. The mayor and baiUff
must have held what was later called a court lect,**
whilst the rights of infangthef, etc., would constitute
the town court a court baron. Both these names
survived into the 19th century and are mentioned in
1835. The ordinary business of the town court is
well illustrated by a cancelled account of its pleas and
perquisites for one whole year,** which shows that
payments were taken for trespass, for hamsoken, for
hue unjustly raised, for contempt done to the bailiffs
and their Serjeants, for default, for false claims and
for claims not prosecuted, for licence to agree, for
unjust detention of chattels, for entering a tithing,
for having a place to sell bread in, and for selling un-
sealed or baaly baked bread. Judging by the names
of the townsmen, the date of this estreat is between
1285 and 1300 It would seem to be the accounts of
the court during a period when the liberty was in the
king's hands, possibly after the eyre of 1285, when the
borough was convicted of having exceeded its rights
of infangthef by hanging a Dunstable man.*' In 1329
a custos of Northampton was appointed for similar
reasons. The second custumal, with its frequent
references to the baihffs' power of amercement,** and
its numerous mercantile regulations,** which must
have been enforced in the town courts, belongs to the
same stage. A plea of 1307 shows that the bailiffs
of Northampton had no jurisdiction in pleas of debt
over 40s.'* The court was described in 1315 as ' the
King's court of Northampton.' '* In the eyre of 1329
the mayor and commonalty claimed jurisdiction in a
case of dower before the justices, asserting that by
their charter no plea of tenements within Northamp-
ton ought to be held except before tlie mayor and
bailiffs within the walls. This led to a long discussion
as to the jurisdiction of the mayor, who soon shifted
his ground, asking only that the justices should sit
within the walls (as they had done in 1285) and not
at the Castle. Justice Scrope and the King's Counsel,
however, pointed out that the charter under which
jurisdiction was claimed made no mention of a mayor,
and asserted that the town had no mayor in the reign
of Henry III. From the coroners' roll, also, it was
clear that the king's lieges had been arraigned and
put to death for felonies committed outside the town,
the franchise of infangthef having thus been executed.
The justice also condemned the irregularity of the
coroners keeping a joint record, when each of the four
' Bat«ton, Boro. Cmloms (Seidell Soc.),
1,245,272-3; ii, 63, 102.
• Ibid, ii, 63-4.
• Ibid, ii, 63. Mill Batcion interpret!
tbii ai referring to lix-monthly ' great
court!.' Ibid, ii, p. Ixuix.
•Marl. Chart. 86, D. 45 (1231-330.
' Bateion, Rtr. »/ Hero, of Lcia. i, 8 ;
Bateion, Boro. Cutiemi (Sclden Soc), i,
• Ibid. I, 103, 292-3.
' Ibid, i, 215.
' Harl. Ch. 86, D. 45.
• In 1221 the Exchequer w.i8 complain-
ing that the burgemei had failed to
execute Exchequer writs and sumiuons,
Mem. R. (K. R), 4, y,„is Vic. Norhanl.
'" M.ndox, Firma Burfi, p. 159.
" Ballard and Taif, Boro. Charirn, ii,
15^-60, 171-3.
" Ajiiie R. 614 B. m. 48d.
" Ibid. O19, m. 75.
'« Rot. l/unj. ii, 2, 4.
'• The petition of Richard Stormei-
worth in 1303 refcri to indictment! by the
' Dosouns ' (i.e. tithing men) before the
m.iyor. V.C.H. Northants. ii, 29.
I' Ct. R. (P. R. O.), I95'57; printed
Northanli .V. and Q. [New Scr.), vol. v,
pp. 203-11.
" Auiie R. 6iq, m. 7;.
"Clause! 9, 14, 15, 21, 22.
" Thirty-three of it! 42 clauiei are
concerned with trade.
•• Abbrtv. Plac. (Rec. Com.), p. 300.
" De Bine. R. 2o3 m. 62d.
10
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
ought to have had his own roll. For these various
reasons the liberties of the town were seized into the
king's hands, and the officials removed from their
offices. The baihffs and two of the coroners were
reappointed and sworn in as the king's delegates, but
a custos was appointed in place of the mayor.** From
the deeds of the 13th and 14th centuries it appears
that mayor, bailiffs and coroners were present at the
court,** and in the I5lh century the Twenty Four
sometimes at least took part.** The pleas at which
the freemen were sworn in must have been the hust-
ing.** In 1557 the assembly ordered that the mayor
should be assisted by four ex-mayors and six ei-
bailifTs every Monday at the court of husting, and that
members of the Common Council might also be called
upon to attend there.** The proceedings were
enrolled by the town clerk on the Rotulus Memoran-
doTum,^^ destroyed presumably in the fire of 1675,
for no medieval court rolls are extant. Some legal
formula are entered in the Liber Custumarum^*
The charter of Richard II of 14 June 1385 granted
to the mayor and bailiffs cognizance of all pleas
whatever arising within the town, to be holden before
them in the guild hall of the town and to the mayor
the right to keep the assize of bread, wine and ale, of
measures and of weights, to inquire concerning fore-
staUers and regraters, and to inflict the penalties and
take the profits arising from this jurisdiction.*' This
charter again must have sanctioned existing practices ;
the mayor had the assize of bread and ale in 1274.
The procedure and scope of his duties as clerk of the
market are indicated by the formula in the Libfr
Custumarum and the charge administered to the
jurors.* In 1621 the mayor was said to fine victuallers
sitting as clerk of the market, at court-leet, as well as
at quarter-sessions.*^ The charter of Henry VI of 1 1
June 1445, constituted the mayor for the time being
the King's escheator in the towm, its suburbs and
fields, with the jurisdiction belonging to the office,'*
and his charter of 14 March 1459, which incorporated
the town, appointed the mayor Justice of the Peace
for the town.** In addition to these jurisdictions the
mayor had the duty of registering recognizances of
detjt under the Statute Merchant, probably from
1283 and certainly from 1 31 1.** This also was done
in the court of Lusting.**
As elsewhere, the sessions of the Justices of tlic
Peace absorbed the work of the older courts of North-
ampton. Under the charter of 1495 a recorder learned
in the law and two other more honest and learned
coburgesses were to be elected annually to sit with
the mayor as justices of the peace.** The charter of
1 599 provided that the late mayor should be one of the
two burgesses." By the charter of 1796 the bench
was enlarged to consist of mayor, recorder, deputy-
recorder, ex-mayor and three other aldermen, as the
business was too heavy for the existing number.*"
Thus down to 1835 all the magistrates were elective,
and the majority were members of the corporation.
The magistrates' sessions had absorbed all the
criminal business, short of capital offences, and the
court-leet and court-baron had purely formal duties.**
The Northampton justices' abuse of their judicial
powers, in combination with the town baihffs' bias
in impanelling juries, was singled out for condemna-
tion in the general report of the Municipal Com-
missioners of 1835.*"
The court of husting, still of importance in the
16th and 17th centuries,'*' had dwindled almost to
vanishing point by the 19th century. It sat as a
' court of record ' once in three weeks, and was held
before the mayor and two bailiffs and the town
steward, but had little business — in 1830 fifteen
actions, in 1831 four, and in 1832 six.*"* An attempt to
have a court of Requests estabhshed in 1818-19 was
defeated in the House of Lords."** Enrolments of
recognizances are extant for 1 783-1 803. ■*•* There was
also, in the i6th and 17th centuries, an orphans'
court, reorganised, if not originated by the charter
of 1599,'** which was held the first Thursday of Lent,
at which the mayor and chamberlains inquired into
the conduct of guardians and sureties."**
A special inquest was held at Northampton for
inquiring into boundaries or party walls. A similar
inquest was used in London from the 12th century
onwards,"*' and in some other boroughs later, but
the name by which it was known in Northampton —
Vernall's inquest — appears to be unique. Its origin
can be traced to clause 11 of the earliest custumal**
(c. 1 190), which provides for the holding of a jury
to decide disputes over walls, gutters, or other
boundaries. Records of the holding of such inquests
are found in the assembly books as late as 1724,
and the inquest was annually appointed down to
1768,'*° so that the institution has a history of some
570 years. The special local name has never been
satisfactorily explained, in the absence of mediaeval
forms of the word. It is possibly to be associated with
the form veiours, vayowres or aviewers, as used for the
jury that surveyed the boundaries in Bristol where,
as in Northampton, it was the mayor's duty to
adjudicate as to boundaries and gutters from the
13th century on.^" The corruption would be no
stranger than that of frith-borli to third borough,
the Northampton term for the tithing man.
The closing of the corporation at Northampton,
'* For reports of the Eyre of North-
ampt. Ke Egerton MS. (B.M.) 2811,
fT. 248-50; Add. MS. 5924, f. 7, I2d;
lee alio Assize R. 635, m. 71 d. For
appointment of custos^ Boro. Rec. i, 64.
A cusiot had alio been appointed in 1227
and 1264.
"Add. Ch. 22354-7, etc.
" BoTo. Rrc. i, 309, 312.
«» Ibid, i, 235.
•* Ibid, ii, 20.
" Ibid, i, 384. Deed* were frequently
enrolled upon it ; ie« B.M. .Add. Ch. 729,
730, 22368, 22371.
•• Ibid, i, 382-191.
" Ibid, i, 367.
" Ibid, i, 373.
>' Cal. S. P. Dom. Add. 1 580-1625, p.
641.
*' Boro. Rec. i, 77. The escheator's
oath, from the Brit. Mus. cuitumal, is
printed Boro. Ree. ii, 132.
» Ibid, i, 85.
•* Ibid, ii, 120-1.
» Ibid, i, 382-3.
>• Boro. Rec. i, 104.
" Ibid, i, 123.
"Ibid, i, 166; Pari. Papers 1833, vol.
xiii. Minute* of Evidence, 1068.
"Ibid. 1344.
"Ibid. 1364-74, 1418; ibid. 1835,
vol. jutiii, 40 ; vol. XXV, 1979-81.
II
♦' Boro.
" Pari.
Rec. ii, 1 16, 1 18-9.
ol.
1970.
Rec.
Press R.
Papers 1833, vol. xiii, 344,
p. 52.
" Ibid. 1835, vol. XXV,
" Northampt. Corp.
101.
•• Boro. Rec. i, 124.
" Ibid, ii, 119-20.
" Bateton, Boro. Customs (Selden Soc).
'■ 245-7-
«' Ibid, i, 245.
•• Boro. Rec. ii, 135-7.
>« Bickley, Little Red Book of Bristol, ii,
134 ; Bateton, Boro. Ci«(<>mj (Selden Soc),
ii, 31.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
as at Leicester,*^ may not have involved any real
injustice or caused any serious discontent in the
15th and l6th centuries. In the course of the 17th
and 1 8th centuries, however, the situation was com-
pletely transformed, and this was due as much to
poUtical as to social developments. Northampton
has been called the Mecca of English Nonconformists,
and, less kindly, ' a nest of Puritans — malignant,
refractory spirits who disturb the peace of the
church.' ^^ From the time when the students and
' bachelery ' of Northampton supported Simon de
Montfort against the King and the prior to the time
when the borough persisted in re-electing Charles
Bradlaugh, in the face of a House of Commons
zealous for the conventions of religion, there is a
recurring tradition of defiance of authority. The
Lollardry of the 14th, and the prophesyings of the
l6th century, the dissemination of Penry's Marprelate
Tracts, stitched, if not printed, in Northampton ;
the obstinate resistance to Laudian reform in the
17th century,^* are followed by the militant puri-
tanism of the civil wars and the last stand of the
Leveller Thompson ; ** the pioneer activities of Inde-
pendent, Baptist, Quaker, Moravian and Wesleyan
congregations, with their meeting houses at Castle
Hill and College Lane, Doddridge's Academy and
Ryland's School ; *^ the iconoclastic free-thought of
Thomas Woolston and Charles Bradlaugh ; and the
radicalism of Chartists like Gammage. The conser-
vative influences come from the county ; it was not
a Northampton parson who preached the doctrine
of ' ApostoUc obedience ' to the justices of Assize
at All Saints' in 1632 so comprehensively that the
Archbishop refused to license the pubUcation of the
sermon. In view of the proverbial relationship of
cobbhng and politics, it is interesting to notice that
during these same centuries Northampton comes to
take the first place in the shoemaking industry of
England.
The irresolution of mayor and corporation as to
their attitude on Elizabeth's death is vividly thrown
up in Sir Thomas Tresham's account of his ride to
Northampton in March 1603, and his threefold
proclamation of James I (regarded as a potential
patron of Papists) outside the south gate, on the
steps of the mayor's house, and in the mayor's own
chamber.'* After these initial hesitations the town
maintained the forms of loyalty in frequent welcomes
to the first two Stuarts on their journeys through
Northampton to or from Holdenby House," but from
1632 overt acts of the corporation betray a growing
opposition to royal policy. Troops were refused in
that year,'* shipmoney in 1636,"' and the fees of the
king's messengers were reduced in 1640.** In March
1641 the Assembly resolved to complain to Parha-
ment of the renewed attempts to exact coat and
conduct money from the town, and to take the trained
band? out of the hberties." In January 1642 a peti-
tion, signed at the Swan Inn, Northampton, against
Papists and Bishops went up to the Commons.'*
From the outbreak of hostihties Northampton became
one of the more important Parliamentary garrison
towns, and the town government used every effort
to strengthen it. Nicholas Wharton, one of the
London volunteers in Essex' army, who entered the
town in August 1642, describes the walls as ' miser-
ably ruined, though the country abounds in mines of
stones ' ; *^ the town, with the assistance at first of the
Earl of Manchester and later of the Parliamentary
committee for the town and county set to work
to organise the defences.'* The assembly voted
;^ioo in 1642 and another j^i6o in 1643, for improving
the fortifications ; a scheme for the provision of
labour by the five wards in rotation on the first five
days of the week was worked out.*' Stores were laid
up against a possible siege ; the south and west
bridges were turned into drawbridges,'* and out-
lying houses in St. Edmund's end pulled down to make
the east gate safer." Besides occupying the castle,
the troops were billeted on the townsmen, who further
helped the forces by supplying 2,000 pairs of shoes
to Cromwell's army.** From Northampton Fairfax
marched out to Naseby in 1645, and after the battle
the Northampton churches received the living as
prisoners, and their churchyards the dead.*^ The
Commonwealth reduced the parhamentary repre-
sentation of the borough to one member, and it is
possible that the town shared the dislike of the county
for the government of Major-General Boteler,"
though it does not seem to have joined in the county's
Humble Address to General Monk on liis arrival
at Northampton on 24 January 1660.'' Be that as it
may, on 10 May 1660 Charles II was proclaimed
' by our Mayor and Aldermen in their scarlett, and
the bayUflfs and Forty- Eight burgesses in all their
formalities, with a troop of Horse and three Com-
panies of Foot, and Drums, Trumpets and the Town
waitse.''^ In spite of this show of loyalty, the cor-
poration was drastically purged by the commissioners
appointed under the Corporation .\ct of 1662. In
September of that year, wliilst the town-walls were
being demolished under the supervision of the Lord
Lieutenant, the mayor-elect, the bailiffs-elect, 8
aldermen, 14 ex-bailiffs and 32 of the Forty Eight
were turned out,'* and the town had to pay £200
for the renewal of its cliarter,'* which was accompanied
by the proviso that the appointments of recorder
and town clerk were to be confirmed by the king,
and tliat all the officials must take the oaths of allegi-
ance and supremacy.'-' In 1672 there wa*; some talk
of a quo warranto against the town for the refusal
to re-elect Peterborough as recorder,'* and though the
*' Bateion, Rfc. lioro. of Letci. ii, liv.
•■ Cat. S. P. Dom. 1638-9^ p. 588 (llum-
phrry Ramidcn to .Sir John Lambc).
•■ y.C.U. Northantt. ii, 29, 43, 68 ff.
•• Gardiner, Commonweallh and Protec-
lorali, i, 54 ; l.tc, Coll, p. 105. Note alio
the earlier I.evellen of 1607, who oppoied
the cncloiurei. Serjeantion, Hill, of Ch.
af All Samtt^ pp. 149-50.
" V.C.II. Norlhanu. ii, 6S-74
•• Hill. MSS. Com. Rep. Var. Coll. iii,
I17-H3.
" Boro. Rtc. ii, 469-71.
•• Cat. S. P. Dom. 163 1-3, p. 278.
'• lloro. Rec. ii, 435.
" Iliid. ii, 33.
*' Ibid, ii, 437. For the town tr,tined
bands see ibid, ii, 444-453, and Acts of
the Prtty Council 1595, p. 392.
•> Cal. S. P. Dom. 1 64 1-3, p. 279.
•> Ibid. p. 385.
" Itiit. MSS. Com. Rrp. viii, app. 2,
P- '.')
" lloro. Rec. ii, 438-9.
" Rridgci, Uitt. of Noribanli. i, 431.
(from T. Duit).
12
•' I.ec, Coll. p. 99.
" Cal. S. P. Dom. 1644, p. 285.
" R. M. Serjenntson, /list. Cb. of All
Saint!, Northampl. p. 152.
" Lee, Coll. p. 109.
" Broadsheet, d.ited 24 J.m. 1659,
* The Humble Addrcs* of the Gentlemen,
Ministers and freeholders of the county of
Northampton.'
" Lee, Coll. p. III.
'•Ibid. 113. "Ibid.
" Cal. S. P. Dom. 1663-4, p. 223.
'* Hill. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, app. 7, p. 9!.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
king did not then insist, in 1681 the corporation were
forced to accept him in place of the father of their
sitting member, a prominent ExcUisionist Whig,
whom they had just elected to the office." In 1683,
following the example of a number of other boroughs
who had been cowed by the fate of London, North-
ampton surrendered its charter and received a new
one which nominated the town officials and entire
corporation and ' according to the new mode of
charters,''^ reserved to the king the right to remove
any official who should subsequentlv be elected."
This right was freely exercised by James II, who, be-
tween February and September 1688, removed a mayor,
8 aldermen, the town attorney, 16 ex-bailiffs, the
acting-bailifTs, 23 common council men, and, in
September, the mayor-elect.*" The Earl of Peter-
borough, the recorder, also made a speech to the
assembly, desiring them not to promise their votes
at the coming parliamentary election till
they had heard from him ; ' but the
Prince of Orange coming in a short time
after, there was an end put to that re-
quest,'"' and the mob broke into the
earl's house and spoiled his chapel.'*
From 1688 the town supported the Crown
loyally. In 1 745, when the Duke of
Cumberland was preparing to make a
stand outside Northampton*^ against
the advancing forces of Charles Edward,
the recruiting efforts of Halifax were
warmly backed up by Doddridge, and
one of the pupils of his academy was
standard-bearer to the regiment of 814
volunteers raised in Northampton.** This
temporary rapprochement of church and
chapel was not, however, lasting ; the
corporation grew steadily more exclusive
in its Anglicanism and Toryism ; and
as the Liberal and Nonconformist
element in the town became more
wealthy and influential, the town govern-
ment grew less and less representative. Of
the 67 subscribers to the loan for the French war in
1757, more than half were members of the Castle
Hill Church.** ' We term it a Tory Corporation,'
said a leading Northampton dissenter, giving evidence
before the Select Committee on Municipal Corpora-
tions in 1833,'' and in 1835 ' '^ ^^^ admitted by the
mayor that he had never known an instance in which
a person opposed to the politics of the corporation
had been elected to the body. . . . Scarcely any of
the master-manufacturers engaged in the staple trade
of the town are members of the established church. . . .
Since the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts no
dissenter has been admitted into the common coun-
cil.'*' The reform of the borough was long overdue
in 1835.
The constitution of the corporation remained
unchanged in substance from 1489 to 1835. .As to
its working we have evidence lacking for the medieval
period. The records of the town assembly (latterly
small enough to meet in the Guildhall)"" are extant
from 1553 to 1835 ;*' the minutes of the Mayor and
Aldermen's Court from 1694 to 1797 ;"" the mayor's
and chamberlain's accounts from 1675 to 1835 ;°* the
minUiC-bo'iks of the Committee of Accounts from
1800 to 1822,'-'- and tlie Enrolments of Apprenticeship
and admission of freemen, some in the first assembly
book, and the rest separately enrolled from 1562 to
1835.°^ There is also a good deal of material on the
parliamentary representation of the borough from
1732 to 1835."'' There is also the chronicle of Henry
Lee, town clerk from 1662 to 1715;"' and the two
Northampton : The Swan Hotel
custumal books, at Northampton and at the British
Museum, contain oaths of office, corrected and brought
up to date from time to time,** which enable us to
differentiate the functions and names of the town
officials.
The mayor was generally chosen from among the
ex-bailiffs, but sometimes {e.g., in 1702, 1762, 1817,
1 8 19) from the members of the Forty Eight. In
spite of a resolution of 1570 that no man should be
mayor more than twice,*' there are numerous in-
stances of mayors serving thrice, and T. Cresswell
served four limes (1579, 1588, 1596, 1604). The
mayor's allowance, 20 marks in the 1 6th, as in the
" Boro. Rec. ii, 109.
'• Narcissui Luttrell, Diary, i, 278.
'• Boro. Rec. i, 143-7.
" Ibid, ii, 476-7.
•' I.ee, Coll. p. 128.
•= Hill. \1SS. Com. Rep. xii, app. 7, p.
230.
" Lttteri of Cumbcrbnd to Wade and
Newcaitle, 4 Dec. 1745 (S. P. Dom.).
•• Corresp. and Diary of Philip Dodd-
nd^e, ed. J. D. Humphreys (1831), iv,
428-31, 436-9, 442-3.
'» Ibid.
Minutes
1 98 1.
•• Pari. Papers 1833, vol. xiii.
of Evidence, 1400.
" Ibid. 1835, vol. XXV, pp. 1976,
•' lioro. Rec. i, 329.
" Vorthampt. Corp. Rec. Press N.
2b, 3, 3a, 10, 5, 6.
N. 8, 9. 4.
Press O.
I- 30-47;
•» Ibid.
Press
N.
8,9
4-
•' Ibid
Press
H.
1-28
, 1-X>
i7-i<)b.
•' Ibid.
Press
N.
1 1.
••Ibid
Press
0.
13-1
6a.
"Ibid.
Press H. ;
Press
Press S.
33-35.
57
-58.
*'•' * Memorandums oi the Antiquities of
the Town of Morthampton and of severall
remarkable things acted in this Kingdome
of England Collected by Henry Lee in the
Eighty Sixth Year of his Age who served
the Corporacion of Northampton in the
office of Town-Clerkc Fifty and Three
Years till .August 1715.' Top. MS. (Bodl.
Lib.), .Northants, c. 9, pp. 89-163, cited
as I-ee, Coll.
•• The prc-Rcformation forms, adjuring
' the Saints ' and ' the holydome ' are
cancelled •' Boro. Rec. ii, 31.
13
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
14th century, varied according to the thrifty or
festive tendencies of the times, but rose steadily
in the l8th century from ^30 in 1745 to £105 in
1801, [J2.2.Q in 1814, and ^^350 in 1829, when the
tide turned.-* In 1835 it was ^^150. No doubt the
increase was partly due to the difficulty of inducing
members of the corporation to accept an office which
entailed so much expenditure on ' treats ' and
' feasts.''* The mayor and ex-mayors or aldermen
had much the same functions as the mayor and his
council had had before 1489.'*' Under the charter of
1489 they nominated the Forty Eight, and thus com-
pletely controlled the personnel of the corporation. ^
They appointed all the corporation officials that
were not elected by the assembly, such as coroners,
chamberlains, constables, Serjeants and beadles,
searchers and tasters for the trades, collectors of
rents, the town clerk and the steward. They ad-
ministered a variety of charities, and their preferen-
tial treatment of candidates of their own poKtical
colour was noted severely in 1835.^ Finally they de-
cided when the assembly should be summoned. In
the 17th century the court of the mayor and aldermen
met fortnightly ; in the 1 8th century less frequently,
and the business was almost entirely confined to the
fiUing of offices, the dealing with charity property,
and the calling of assemblies.
The two baihffs, elected annually from the com-
pany of the Forty Eight by the whole assemblv,
became members for fife of the body of ex-haihffs,
from wliom as a rule the mayor was chosen. They
received as their allowance the rent of a river meadow
known as the Bailiffs' Hook, which amounted in
1835 to £31 a year, and had then been recently
supplemented by a grant of 50 guineas.' Their
functions had come to be almost purely administrative
and fiscal, as the Court of Record where they sat
became less and less important. They were still
responsible for the payment of the fee farm, for the
arrangement of fairs and markets, and for the collec-
tion of tolls. They also supervised the keeping of
watch and ward and the upkeep of the walls till 1662.*
They impanelled juries and executed the writs of
central and local justices, the corporation success-
fully upholding its right to exclude the sheriff's action
in this matter.*
The Forty Eight, nominated for life by the mayor
and aldermen from the body of freemen, served as a
pool from wliich the baihffs could be chosen.* They
could be displaced by a vote of the assembly.' With
the mayor and aldermen, the baihffs and ex-baiUffs,
they made up the common council or assembly,
which elected the mayor, the recorder, and the
bailiffs, and other corporation officials,' admitted
freemen, leased corporation property, and passed
ordinances or bye laws, though this form of activity
practically ceased in the 1 8th century, when they had
come to take very little thought for the general well-
being of the town.* The contrast between the earlier
and later Assembly Books well reflects the narrowdng
of interests.
Of the other town officials the Recorder was first in
dignity. He is first mentioned in 1478 as the person
before whom, with the coroners, the mayor was to
be sv/orn in at Northampton, instead of going up
to the Exchequer.'" The charter of 1495 provided
that the assembly should every year elect a discreet
man learned in the law as Recorder, to serve as a
justice of the peace for the borough, and be one of
the quorum of three, with power to hear and deter-
mine all felonies and trespasses committed within
the town.'* The office was as a rule held for life,
and the first recorded election (in 1568), was made by
the mayor and aldermen.*^ As the influence of the
county over the town increased, it became customary
to appoint some neighbouring gentleman, who often
served as knight of the shire or member for the
borough. The first honorary appointment seems to
have been the election in 1642 of the Earl of Man-
chester, a member of the family of Montagu of
Boughton, ' for various favours shown by him to the
town, and especially for having provided for its
defence,'^* and thenceforward the work of the office
seems to have been done by a deputy-recorder.
In 1671, the assembly elected the Earl of Peterborough
as Recorder, but the next year the new mayor, a
county gentleman, induced them to replace him
by the Earl of Northampton.^* For this discourtesy
to a royal favourite the mayor was summoned before
the Privy Council, and rebuked by the King, who,
however, allowed the election to stand.'* The Earl of
Northampton was formally re-elected every year until
his death, .ind was a most valuable friend to North-
ampton in forwarding tlie Bill for the rebuilding of
the town after the fire of 1675. When the earl begged
the King to delay the prorogation of parhament for
half an hour or so that the Bill might pass, Charles
observed : ' My lord, I do much wonder you should
be so kind to the town of Northampton which in the
time of the wars were so unkind to my lord of North-
ampton, your father.''" The earl replied : ' If it may
please your Majesty, I forgive them,' and the King
said : ' My lord, if you forgive them, I shall do the
same.'" On Northampton's death, however, the town
was forced to accept Peterborough until 1688, when
the recordership became, in practice, hereditary in the
Compton family, till the death of the last Earl of
Northampton in 1828. The position then ceased to be
honorary, and a working lawyer was appointed.'* The
most distinguished of tlie deputy-recorders of North-
ampton had been Spencer Perceval, who held the office
from 1787-1807, gave legal opinion and advice to the
•' DtiTo. Ret. ii, 41-2.
** In 1694 eight person! in succession
were elected .is maynr and paid the fine of
j^io rather than serve. Boro, Rrr, ii, 37.
••• For the mayor's oath see Boro. Rec.
ii, ;3i,or Add. MS. Brit. Mu«. 34308,(0.
10 d.
' For the aldermen's oath, see Add.
MS. 3430S, fo. 15.
'Far!. Paperi, 1835, vol. xxv. p. 1978.
• Ibid. p. 1967.
* For the bailiffs' oath, see Boto. Rec. ii,
533, or Add. MS. 34308, fo. 1 1 d.
'Assembly Books, 20 April 1612. 10
May 1722.
• For oath of Forty Eight, see Add. MS.
14308, fo. 20.
'Assembly Book, 2 May, 1778.
• The distribution of patronage between
the common council and the mayor and
aldermen varied from time to time. Sec
Boro. Rec. ii, 49,
• Pari. Paperi, 1835, vol. xxv, pp. 1967,
"■ Boro. Rec. i,
" Ibid, i, 104.
94.
" Ibid, ii, 104.
'= //is(. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, app. 2,
p. 59n.
'• I.ee, Coll. p. 118.
" Boro. Rec. ii, 107.
" The second earl was killed in a
skirmish in 1643, and the parliamen-
tarians refused to give up his body to
his son.
" Lee, Coll. p. I2t.
" For the recorder's oath, see Boro.
Rec. i, 392.
H
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
town on several important occasions, helped to secure
the new charter in 1796, and represented the borough
in Parliament from 1796 till his assassination in
181 2. '• His statue by Chantrey, erected by public
subscription'" and placed in All Saints' in 1817, was
transferred to the council chamber of the town hall,
where it now stands, in 1866.
The town clerk, common clerk or mayor's clerk
acted also as clerk of the recognizinccs.^' He was
appointed as a rule by the mayor and aldermen and in
practice held the otHce for life. He had a small
stipend, but his income was mainly derived from fees.
In 1652 it was put on record that he should have no
voice in matters discussed in the assembly ;^* his
importance as a permanent official is well illustrated
by the story told by Henry Lee, town clerk from
1662-1688 and from 1690-1715, of the election of the
mayor in 1694. Eight members of the corporation
in turn had been elected and refused to serve. ' It
being night, .^nd the Mayor and .Aldermen tired, the
Mayor proposed to the Aldermen to adjourn the Court
to the next day, .And then I informed them That it
was against the Express words of the Charter.' (If
the mayor was not elected at one sitting, the exist-
ing mayor had to serve another year.) ' I told the
present Mayor that . . . without speedy care taken
they would all be gon, and thereupon he starts up
from his Seat in the Councell Chamber and made
hast to the Hall dorc and lockt it and brought in
the Keys and laid them before him upon the Table,
and said : " Now I will stay here till to-morrow this
time, but I will choose a Mayor." ... It happened
to be a wett night, and after nine of the clock.' ^
The town steward, first mentioned in the 15th
century,** acted as clerk to the bailiffs at the court of
record, and mayor's clerk at the court leet.*^ He was
appointed by the mayor and alderman and paid by
fees only.
The coroners, according to the charter, should have
been chosen by the assembly ; in practice the mayor
and aldermen often appointed. The election was
annual, and it was usual to choose aldermen for the
office.**
The chamberlains, elected annually, at first b_v the
assembly and later by the mayor and aldermen, acted
as the town treasurers. They kept the town accounts
and had one of the keys of the common chest.*'
During the 17th century there were two, a senior
and a junior chamberlain, each holding office for
two years. Their accounts** are preser\ed in the
corporation archives from 1 5 54 onwards, with gaps,
and are of great value, including as they do the rental
of the towrn lands, receipts by fines and grazing fees,
payments to town officials and beneficiaries, and all
kinds of occasional expenditure. The increase in the
amounts spent on feasting is well marked. From
1785 to 1835 the town chamberlain wore a distinctive
badge of ' a respectable silver key in the gothic taste,
double gilt.'*» By 1835 the ch.imberlain's functions
had become largely honorary, and the real work of
accounting was done by a treasurer, also elected by the
mayor and aldermen."
The Serjeants of the mayor and baihfEs, known, from
the rods of office they carried, as mace-bearers from
the 14th century*! ^y^re five in number, one for each
ward of the town. Four were reckoned as bailifTs'
Serjeants and called in the 17th and l8th centuries
Serjeants at mace ; the fifth was known as mayor's
Serjeant or mace-bearer. According to the form of
their oaths in the town custumal** they executed
attachments and distresses and had custody of
prisoners, whilst the mayor's Serjeant also assized
measures and weights and levied estreats. They
were appointed by the mayor and aldermen. Besides
the fees and perquisites of their office the bailififs'
Serjeants received in 1833 a salary of 6 guineas each,
and the mace-bearer ^t^?-*^ Four small maces, one
going back to the reign of James I, are preserved at
Northampton, together with the great mace still in
use, made probably, like that of Leicester, by Thomas
Maundy of London under the Commonwealth.**
The duties of the Serjeants had become largely
formal by 1835 ; their police duties were being
performed by the constables. The 15th century
custumal gives the constable's oath which defines
his duties, and also that of the tithing man or dozener,*^
whose office, at that period, is still mainly one of
presenting at the leet. In the 17th century custumal
a later form of the sacramentum decenurionim in-
cludes the duty of apprehension of wandering and
idle persons of different kinds,** and can be taken as
defining the duties of the third borough or head
borough who in the i6th and 17th centuries assisted
the constable. Each ward had one constable and two
third boroughs, appointed from 1581 to 1690 by the
assembly, and after that date by the mayor and
aldermen.*' In 1833 there were in all 23 constables
and head boroughs, paid according to the work done,
by piece rates, out of the town rates by authority of
the magistrates.** Among other minor officials of
the corporation were the town crier, the hallkeeper,
and, from 1584 to 1698 at least, the town waits or
musicians.*'
The government of the close corporation appears to
have been on the whole satisfactory down to the
Restoration. From that date the town records give
evidence of steady deterioration. Alongside of the
growth of political exclusiveness went the tendency
within the corporation of the mayor and aldermen to
arrogate to themselves more power, and the diminu-
tion in the corporation as a whole of the sense of
responsibility for the well-bting of all the town.
The borough revenues were regarded as a fund entirely
at their disposal, and any fresh needs of the growing
'• Boro. Rfc. ii, 22, 206, 34g. Ht is also
supposed to have used his influence to
secure army contracts for the Northamp-
ton shoe makers.
*• The corporation subscribed £10^,
Assembly Bk., 5 June, 18 12.
" In the British Museum custumal the
town clerk's oath covers also the office of
* Prothonotary or clerk of the Recogniz-
ances of the Statute Merchant.' lie had
a seal in this capacity, reproduced Boro.
Rtc. ii, 14a, fig. 4.
" Ibid. 6().
" Lee, Coll. pp. 130-1.
'■* Boro. Rec. i, 377. The steward's
oath is given Add. MS. 34308, fo. 11 d,
printed Boro. Rrc. ii, 533 ; for ' the Mrs '
read ' thy maystres.*
'^ Boro. Rec. ii, 11 6-8; Pari. Papers,
1835, vol. XXV, p. 1968.
*• Ibid. p. 1968. For coroners' oath
see Boro. Rec. i, 392.
" Ibid.. 256.
=• Ibid, ii, 58-65.
IS
=• Ibid. 66.
" Pari. Papers, 183;, vol. xxv, p. 1968.
" Boro. Rec. i, 244, 2?o.
"Add. MS. 34308, ff. 13, i;; Boro.
Rrc. ii, 74, 78.
" Ibid. 78.
» Ibid. 74-85.
»> Ibid, i, 397, 393-
"Add. MS. 34308, fo. 12.
" Boro. Rec. ii, 139-142.
" Pari. Papers, 1833, vol. xiii, p. 50.
"» Boro. Rec. ii, 85-92.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
town were met out of the town rates, fixed by the
magistrates at quarter sessions and kept distinct from
the corporation accounts.*" As early as 1692 a mayor
is commended because ' he did not sell the town land
for claret as others did.'*i The corporation became,
in fact, little more than a dining club with considerable
powers of patronage.
One by-product of this stagnation was the difficulty
found in filling municipal office and even in recruiting
the corporation itself. A substantial sum was
annually derived from the fines cf tho«e who refused
office. We have seen that in 1694 eight mayors-
designate refused to serve. This brought in ^80.
Similar difficulties occurred in 171 1, 171 3, 1723, and
1730.*^ The same reluctance to serve was shown by
bailifls-elect.*' The records of the mayor and alder-
men's court show the difficulty of filling up the vacan-
cies in the Forty Eight created annually by the election
of the two bailiffs. The first instance of refusal to act is
recorded in 1696, and from that time complaints were
constant.** On 7 August 1775, for instance, 13
persons who were elected to the Forty Eight were
displaced because of their refusal to take the oath ;
ten of them, however, were immediately re-elected
with six others. On 5 August 1776 twelve were simi-
larly displaced and re-elected.** The assembly in its
turn was endeavouring to compel persons to become
freemen : on 23 May 1 776, for instance, it was
resolved that nine persons should be admitted freemen
at j^^io each, and prosecuted if they refused.** As a
result, by 1 791 the corporation consisted of a mayor,
18 aldermen, 22 baiUlTs and 19 Forty Eight men,
whilst 29 persons elected to the Forty Eight were
refusing to act. Under the charter of 1663 the mayor
and aldermen had power to fine, and if necessary
imprison and distrain freemen who refused to serve.*'
Having taken legal opinion, in 1794 they had a
mandamus served on several of the defaulters, and the
case was brought before the court of King's Bench,
with unforeseen consequences. It appeared that by
the Act of 1489 the mayor must be elected by a
majority of the Forty Eight, not being ex-baiUfTs, ana
that for several years past the mayors had been
elected by a minority, as no majority existed.** The
corporation had thus no legal warrant for its existence,
and the only remedy was to surrender the charter of
1663*' and petition for a new one. The townsmen
seized on the chance of asserting their rights and held
a meeting on i June 1795 at the County Ilall (not
being allowed the use of the Town Hall) and a counter-
petition organised by Edward Bou\erie, the Whig
member for the borough, was signed by five hundred
persons, praying the King not to grant a charter
without reference to the petitioners.'*' The attitude
of the corporation is reflected in the resolution passed
in the assembly of 8 June.'*
'That it is the opinion of this Assembly that the
peace and good government of tliis town and the
interest of all its inhabitants whether free or not free
of the corporation have been well secured under the
Ancient Powers and Franchises heretofore and
hitherto exercised by the Corporation.
' That it would not be wise to depart from a System
which has been found upon such long experience to
answer. And therefore it is the opinion of this
Assembly that they should endeavour to procure such
a Charter only as shall confirm and restore the ancient
Rights and Franchises of the Corporation and leave
the Government and the Election of its officers under
the same regulations which have hitherto prevailed.'
Thanks were also voted to Mr. Charles Smith for
his ' manly and steady conduct in resisting the unjust
imputations aimed at the Corporation ' at the late
town meeting.
As was to be expected, the view of the assembly
rather than that of the town meeting was accepted
by the central government, and the charter of 2 April
1796'^ differed only in trifling respects from that of
1663. The right to fine freemen for refusal of office
and to fine members of the corporation for non-
attendance at assemblies was made definite, and the
clause forbidding any but freemen to trade within the
town was dropped. The fresh lease of life given to
the old corporation led to no improvement either in
zeal or in public spirit. Quorums were difficult to
obtain,** and the worst instances of the expenditure of
public funds on entertainment, of the exploitation of
charity endowments for party purposes, and of
pohtical bias in judicial action belong to the period
1796-1835. A proposal from one of its own members
in 1831 to reform the financial procedure of the
corporation was quashed as ' unusual, improper and
prejudicial,' ** and the appointment of a special
committee to audit the accounts in 1833, though
it produced a valuable report, was in the nature of a
deathbed repentance. The epitaph of the old
regime was spoken by Cockburn in 1835 : ' It seems
impossible to justify a system which alienates from
the municipal government the affections and respect
of one half of the community and gives rise to com-
plaints of so serious a character.'** In November
1835 the close corporation of the last three and a half
centuries was replaced by an elective body of one
mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors, representing
the three wards into which the town was newly
divided.
Under the Local Government Act of 1888 (51 and 52
Vict. c. 41) Northampton became a county borough
in that year, but the form of its government was
unchanged till 1898, when, owing to the victories of th'-
Progressive party in the municipal elections of i8g7,**
a Boundaries Committee was appointed and a Pro-
visional Order obtained from the Local Government
Board, rcdividing the town into six wards. After
further enquiry, the area of the town was enlarged by
the act of 30 July 1900*' so as to include nine wards.
" Pari. Paperi, 1833, vol. xiii, p. 50.
•' B<^o. Rec. ii, 38 (HaU'i MS.).
" Ibid, il, 39.
" Ibid. 55.
" Ibid. 21-2.
" Northampt. Corp. Rcc. Prcii N 4.
*' Anembly Book, Prcii N. 10.
" Horo. Rec. i, 141.
'• Ibid, ii, 14.
" The town wai governed under thii
charter, and not chat ol 1683, at, the lur-
rendcr of the former never having been
enrolled, the latter (which had provided
for a company of forty instead of forty-
eight) wai declared void by Sir Kdw.ird
Northey, Attorney-General, 1701-1707,
1710-1718. Bridges, Hist, of Northants.
i. 433-
•• BoTo. Ree. ii, 24.
" Asiembly Book, Northampt. Corp.
Rec. Prefi N, 10.
•• Btro. Rtc. i, 154-184.
16
'■' Ibid, ii, 25-6.
" Ibid, ii, 27.
" Pari. Papers, 1835, vol. xxv, p.
19S1.
" Northampt. Mercury, ^^ov. 1900,
" I..G.B. Provisional Orders Con-
firmation (no. 14) Act, 1900, 63 and 64
Vict, dxxxiii (Public Act of a local
character). Northampton Workhouse
serves Hardingstone Union.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
each of which returned three councillors, who with
nine aldermen, made up a council of 36 members.
In 191 1 the Northampton Corporation Act'* was
passed, under which the borough was divided into
twelve wards, and from 1912 on the council has
consisted of the time-honoured number of 48.
The first recorded representation of the borough
in a parliament is in 11 Edward I,** and, except under
the Commonwealth, there were two members up to
1918. The carhest writs are directed to the mayor
and good men,** whilst the returns for Edward II's
reign state that the members were elected by the
bailiffs, by the mayor and bailiffs, or per considera-
tiomm vilU.^'- From 1 381 at least, the elections
appear to have been made in the assembly at St.
Giles'.** A comparison of the list of m.iyors and bailiffs
with that of the members shows that the same group
of burgesses performed both services." In 1 381 the
assembly resolved that the borough should always be
represented in Parliament by the ex-mayor, unless he
had discharged the office of burgess before his
mayoralty.** From 1489 onwards it appears that,
as the parliamentary elections were still made in the
assembly,** voting was restricted to members of the
corporation. The act of 1489 did not mention elec-
tions to parliament, but the King's letter to Leicester
in the same year definitely laid it down that only
members of the common council should have votes
for parliamentary elections,** and it is possible that
the two acts, so nearly identical in form, were inter-
preted similarly. The members were chosen from
among the corporation until the reign of Elizabeth,
when the practice begins of choosing county gentle-
men to represent the town. From 1553, the recorder
was generally chosen as one member, and the Yelver-
tons of Easton Maudit established a strong family
interest, whilst the Knightleys of Fawsley were
another county family with influence in the borough.
The notorious Peter Wentworth of Lillingston had sat
for a Cornish borough before he represented North-
ampton in 1586, 1589 and 1592.*' In 1601 the assembly
books record that Mr. Henry Hickman, LL.D.,
and Francis Tate, Esq., made request to be chosen
burgesses for the town and were accepted as being the
first a resident and the second the son of a freeman,
provided they paid their own expenses.** They
were both made honorary freemen. Aldermen are
still chosen as members after this date, but economy
on the side of the corporation and solicitation from
outside soon established the parliamentary representa-
tion of the borough as a prize to be competed for
among the county gentry." Henry Lee finds it
noteworthy that in 1640 Zouch Tate of Delapre was
elected burgess ' without his making any interest and
without his knowledge till after the election.''"
Under the Commonwealth the representation of
the borough was reduced to one. At the Restoration
Northampton, like several other boroughs,'^ under-
went a peaceful revolution ; the parliamentary vote
ceased to be the monopoly of the corporation. There
must have been warning signs, for both at Leicester
and Northampton the corporations prepared to
resist an attack. The assembly at Northampton
ordered on 19 June 1660 ' That this town do unite
with any other corporation of the neighbourhood for
the maintenance and continuance of their constancy
in the choice of Burgesses to serve in Parhament by
the mayor, Baihffs and Burgesses. ''^ In the elections
for the convention two returns were made ; the one
of Francis Harvey and Richard Rainsford, the other
of Sir John Norwich and Richard Rainsford. The
Committee for Privileges reported that ' the common-
alty as well as the bailiffs, aldermen and 48 common
councilmen have the right to elect,' and that therefore
Rainsford and Norwich were elected.'^ Harvey, the
deputy-recorder, was the corporation candidate. In
the elections of 1661 there was again a double return
for Northampton : the sheriff brought an indenture
with the names of Sir John Norwich and Sir James
Langham ; the mayor returned Langham and Harvey.
The return of the mayor, the lawful returning officer,
was filed, and Langham and Harvey were temporarily
allowed to sit,'* but after investigation the Committee
tor Privileges reported that the mayor had used
menaces to such as would not give their votes to Mr.
Harvey, had made infants free on the morning of the
election that they might vote as he pleased, had caused
persons to be put by who would not vote as he desired,
had released Quakers from prison and put halberts in
their hands to keep back such as would have voted
contrary to his intentions, had adjourned the taking
of the poll into the Church of All Saints and there
behaved himself in a profane and indecent manner,
and had declared beforehand that Mr. Rainsford
should not be elected because he had given a charge for
the Book of Common Prayer. On account of these ir-
regularities the election was declared void by the
Commons, by a vote of 185 to 127." The mayor was
brought into the House in the custody of the Serjeant
at Arms, and making a humble submission on his knees,
received a grave reprehension. Henry Lee, who appears
to have confounded the elections of 1660 and 1661,'*
says that there were five candidates, and that the poll
was held in the chancel of All Saints, by reason of the
great rain that fell that day so that it could not be taken
at the Market Cross. ' The election of burgesses,' he
adds, ' was then ordered to be made in the town by
the freemen and inhabitants of the town, and has
continued a popular election ever since.'" Never-
theless more disputed returns followed, leading
to a more precise definition of the franchise. The
bye-election ordered on 13 June 1661 led to the return
of Sir Charles Compton and Rainsford ; but Compton
died soon after and a fresh writ was issued on 5 Dec.
1661.™ This time Sir J. Langham was elected, and
the rival candidate, Sir W. Dudley, protested. The
•• 1 and ; Gtorge V, cUiv (Local Act).
»• Patl. WrtU (Rec. Com.), i, 16.
"Itid.
" Ibid. I, Ixxiii ; II, i, ccxzxiv.
" Bno. Rec. i, 248.
•> Pari. Writs, II, I, cczzxii, fl ; Boro.
Rtc. ii, 549 S.
" Boro. Rec. i, 249.
•* Ibid, ii, 494-6.
'• Batcion, Rec. Boro. of Leics. ii, 325.
" See £»{. Uist. Rev. zxxii, 38, 46;
and Acls of Privy Council, 1578-80, p. 218,
for Wentworth's conventicles at LUlingi-
ton, attended by Northampton townsmen.
•' Boro. Rec. ii, 495.
•• Note Richard Spencer's account of
his inteniew with the mayor and cor-
poration in 1625. Hill. MSS. Com. Rep.
vol. 82 (Buccleugh MSS.) i, 258-9.
" Lee, Coll. p. 93.
" Merewether and Stephens, fjisl. of
Bore. pp. 1763 ff.
17
" Boro. Rec. ii, 498.
" Commons Journals, viii, 70-71 (21
June 1660).
" Ibid, viii, 257 (22 May 1661).
" Ibid, viii, 269-70 (13 June 1661).
" He seems to have misled all later
writers ; the account given by Dr. Cox
in the Boro. Rec. of the elections 1660-
1664 is quite incorrect.
" Lee, Coll. p. 11 1-2.
'• Commons Journals, viii, 326.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Committee for Privileges reported on 26 April 1662
that lawful voters had been prevented from voting, but
the matter was too intricate for them to determine ;
the House accepted their report and declared the
election void.'^ The new bye-election was postponed
for nearly a year by the rising of ParUament, but in
February 1663 a fresh writ was issued*" and the
election took place on 7 March.*^ The mayor
attempted to hold it in the assembly, but two of the
members of the corporation protested and left the
guildhall with many others, joining the ' popularity ''^
in the market square which was shouting ' A Hatton !
a Hatton ! ' The rest of the corporation elected Sir W.
Dudley ; Mr. Hatton's party polled at the Market
Cross, and the sheriff received two indentures. As in
duty bound he returned the one sealed by the town
clerk (Henry Lee himself), but Hatton appealed to the
House of Commons, and the Committee for Privileges,
after hearing much evidence, reaffirmed that ' the
voices in election do not belong to the Mayor, Alder-
men and Forty-Eight only, and that . . . Mr. Hatton
was duly elected.' The name of Dudley was erased
from the indenture by the Clerk of the House and that
of Hatton inserted.'^ In 1664 there was a fresh bye-
election, necessitated by Rainsford's becoming a
Baron of the Exchequer.** Again the return was
disputed. On 26 April** the Committee of Elections
reported that counsel on both sides agreed that
whoever had the majority of voices of inhabitants
being householders and not receiving alms ought to
be elected ; and that the Committee upheld this
and were of opinion that the sharing of the charitable
gift at Christmas was a taking of alms. On this
interpretation. Sir Henry Yelverton was declared duly
elected, and Sir John Bernard unseated. It would
appear that the process of corrupting the popular
electors had already begun.
From this time Northampton enjoyed what Tennant
in 1782*' calls the cruel privilege of a very popular
franchise. It is not unHkcly that the townsmen owed
their enfranchisement to the fact that their pohtical
sympathies were more royalist than those of the
corporation, even after the purging of 1662,*' for in
1665 the mayor-elect was arrested by royal command.**
Very soon, however, the corporation became more
Tory than the town. In 1678 the Montagu interest,
strong in the borough since the reign of James I,*'
was exerted on the Exclusionist side. ' There are
four that stand,' young Perceval reports ; ' Mr.
Montagu is the only man who trcateth . . . the
townsmen themselves say, both he and his father spend
jf 100 per week, but to no purpose, for whomsoever the
King will recommend they arc resolved to choose, and
there coming a letter in favour of Sir W. Temple, he,
it is thought, will be the man.'"* Owing to the Tory
leanings of the returning officers, Temple was re-
turned, but unseated by a vote of the House ' with
so united a cry as made it very legible what incUnation
they bear to the patron of the first.' *i From this
time on the Montagu interest dominates the borough
representation, and as the recordership had become a
hereditary perquisite of the earls of Northampton,
the Compton interest was equally strong and for a long
series of parliaments the borough was represented by
a Compton and a Montagu. In 1733 the assembly
declared ' We think we have in some measure a right
to be represented by a brother of the earl of North-
ampton.''"' But on this occasion the corporation
overreached itself. The parliamentary franchise was
held to belong ' to every freeman, whether resident
or not, and every householder, whether free or not,' *'
and the mayor, for the purposes of the election,
admitted 396 gentlemen of the county to be freemen
of the town, on payment of 3 guineas a man :'■' but
the defeated candidate successfully petitioned against
the return of Colonel Montagu, elected by these new
votes. In 1740 legal opinion taken by the corporation
upheld the ruling that only resident freemen had the
parliamentary vote.'* In 1768 a third great county
interest entered the field. Earl Spencer put forward
the Hon. Thomas Howe against the Montagu candi-
date. Sir G. Osborn, and the Compton candidate. Sir
G. B. Rodney. It was popularly beheved that
^^400,000 was spent on this election by the three
patrons.'^ The campaign began at Michaelmas 1 767
and lasted till April 1768, after fourteen days' polling.
The mayor and corporation used all their influence
against the Spencer candidate," and by common
agreement the oath as to bribery was not administered
to any voter. A supporter of Hahfax, rebutting the
charge of bribery, wrote : ' I have never heard of any
other expense on his part but that of eating and
drinking.'* . . . How can it be avoided when an old
family interest is to be defended against a sudden and
unexpected invasion ? In such a case one cannot
blame what is done for self-defence.' *' Another con-
temporary says : ' Each voter that would had twelve,
fourteen or fifty guineas, some j^ioo to ^£500. The
single article of ribbands cost j^6,ooo.'^ Osborn and
Rodney were returned ; but a scrutiny in tlie House
of Commons in 1769 resulted in Howe's being declared
elected, and Osborn and Rodney tossed for the other
seat, which was retained by Rodney.^ The expenses
of the scrutiny, which took six weeks, during which
Lord Spencer kept open house for members of
Parliament, led to the Earl of Northampton's leaving
the kingdom after cutting down the tiees and selling
the furniture at Compton VVinyates, whilst Halifax
and Spencer were also seriously crippled. The
Compton and Spencer interests held the field after
tliis for some years. From 1 796-1 812 Spencer
Perceval, deputy iccorder since 1787, represented the
borough (at first as ' Lord Northampton's Man ') * and
there were a series of uncontested elections. In 1818
'• Commotit Journals^ viii, 414,
•• Ibid, viii, 436.
•' Bcro. Rcc. ii, 498-9 (Hall'i MS.).
•"L«, Coll. p. 113.
•• Commons Jourtiah^ viii, 469.
•* Ibid, viii, 535 (11 March 1663/4).
" Ibid, viii, 550.
" Journey from Cbeiur to London,
310.
" S« above, p. 12.
" BoTo. Rec. ii, 35.
•• Jbid. ii, log.
" llisl. MSS. Com. Rep. (Egmont MS.),
ii, 76.
•' Ibid. Ormonde MSS. iv, 471.
•" Boro. Rec. ii, 500.
•• liridgo, op. cit. i, 434.
•* Boro. Rec. ii, 500.
•• Ibid, ii, 501.
•• Quarterly /JiriVtc, Jan. 1857, p. 32
(article by Rev. T. James).
•' Among (he corporation records is a
list in the town clerk's handwriting of
members of the Corporation tn the interest
of Osborn and Rodney, which includes the
mayor, 9 .ildcrmon, 18 bailiffs and 26
common council men. Bore Rec. ii, 506,
** The voters having drunk up all
llalila.x's port at Ilurton, refused his
claret, and went over in a body to Castle
Ashby to sample Northampton's cellar.
•• Hilt. MSS. Com. Rrp. 10, app. i,
p. 409.
' Boro. Rec. ii, 506 (Hall's MS.).
' llist. MSS. Com. Rep. 10, app. i, p. 412.
' Boro. Ric. ii, 508.
Pi AN OF Northampton in 1746
{By NMe ami Bullin)
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
the understanding that each party returned one
candidate was terminated * and another tierce contest
took place. The corporation supported the Tory
interest energetically, and in 1826 went so far as to
vote j([i,ooo out of the borough funds towards the
expenses of a candidate in the ministerial interest : an
action condemned by the commissioners of 1835, but
falling far short of the party excesses of the Leicester
corporation.' In 1768 the number of townsmen
claiming votes was 1 170, and some 900 were allowed to
poll. In 1784 908 voted, in 1790 893,* and in 1818
1,287.' T'^*^ number of electors under the Reform
Act of 1832 was 2,497.* The last notable episode in
the parUamentary history of Northampton was con-
nected with Charles Bradlaugh. After two unsuccess-
ful candidatures, he was elected M.P. for Northampton
in 1 880. He was unseated on his refusal to take the
oath administered to members, and was re-elected by
the borough four times— in 1881, 1S82, 1884 and 1885.
Finally, in 1886, he was allowed to sit, and he remained
one of the burgesses until his death in 1891.^ By the
Representation of the People Act in 191 8, the borough
representation was reduced from two to one. The
borough was represented by Miss Margaret Bondfield
in the parhament of 1923-24.
In 1086 the sum payable to the sheriff by the
burgesses was ^£30 los. ; in 11 30 the sheriff accounted
for ;£ioo at the Exchequer; and in 1185 the Jirma
burgi WIS fixed at ;(^120. The burgesses had difficulty
in paying this and they appear to have been badly in
arrears at the beginning of the reign of Henry III, so
that in 1227 the town was taken into the king's hand'"
and a cuJtos appointed. '* In 1334 the town applied in
vain for a reduction of the farm,'^ but in 1462
Edward IV remitted ^^20 of it for the next twenty
years, a period extended later.** In 1484 Richard III
increased the relief to 50 marks,** but Henry VII
reduced it again to ;£22.*' Under a grant of 1 5 14 the
farm was permanently fixed at ;^98,'* as it is to-day.
It has been assigned from time to time to different
persons, such as Robert de Crevequer in 1301," and
Roger de Beauchamp in 1338.** From 1351
^66 13/. 4<i. of it has been payable to the Dean and
Chapter of Windsor,*' and the remaining £^l 6s. Sd.
is paid to Mr. George Finch, the representative of the
earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham.^"
By acquiring the Jirma burgi, the burgesses acquired
the right of collecting the burgage-rents hitherto
payable to the king. Early deeds frequently describe
tenements held de pripositura ville. It is not always
clear whether the rents are included in the farm, or
whether in some cases the baiUffs are collecting them
on the king's behalf and accounting for them separately
at the Exchequer. Thus Hugh Gobion is said to
hold his land in chief of the king by the service of 2s.
payable yearly at the Exchequer by the hands of the
prepositura of Northampton,^* whilst Richard Gobion
' holds his land of the King in chief by burgage,
p.iying 15/. 41^. to the prepositura of Northampton
towards the faim of the said town.'^- In a survey of
1 291 of nine iiouses lately held by Jews in Northamp-
ton, three are said to be held de prepositura'^^ — one in
the Corn Row, one in the Market Place, and one not
specified. The rents are Sd., is. and 8(/., and in two
of the three instances payments are due to other
persons as well. In 1 361 Hawise le Botiller {nee
Gobion) is said to have held 8 shops in Northampton,
as burgage of the town, rendering to the king iid.
yearly towards the farm of the town.^'' The petition
of 1334 refers to rents that go to make up the fee farm
of the town,^^ and another petition in which North-
ampton joined with four otlier towns in 1376 shows
that several burgesses who held burgages of the king
had so wasted their land that the rents were not forth-
coming for the payment of the borough farm.^' In
1467 the rents due for the stalls in the market are
described as the king's, and also as the property of
the suitors to the town court, and they were collected
by the biihffs, ' fee farmers to the King within tlxis
town.'^' When purpresturcs were presented, it was
not uncommon for the encroacher to be allowed to
keep the land usurped, paying for it a rent to the
prepositura in aid of the Jirma burgi.^^ In 1 391 the
mayor and chamberlains are expressly given power to
let to farm all waste places, for rents to be paid to
them for the town.^' Sixteen such holdings were
let out by them in 1439.^ Much property had come
into the hands of the town by the close of the Middle
Ages, and by the name of ' The Chamber lands ' was
confirmed to the town by the charter of 1599.'*
The condition of the town of North,;mpton in
1504 is shown by a rental^*' in which the town
is divided into streets with the lanes running off
on either side, into market rows and districts. Pro-
bably the most important area was ' Swinwel-strete,'
now Derngate, which was apparently the residential
quarter, and included the manor of Gobions and the
Grange. The latter, which formerly belonged to
Thomas Latimer, was late of Thomas Tresham,
and then held by John Chauncy. It included land
next the postern called Derngate and other adjoining
land. Property here belonged to the chapel of Blessed
Mary the Virgin in All Saints Church, and to the
fraternity of Holy Trinity. There were inns called
' le Crown,' ' le BeU,' ' le Tabard,' and ' le BuUe,'
and a house called ' le Blakhall.' St. Giles Street,
which extended to the town wall, was mostly in-
habited by tradesmen, bakers and fullers and Adam
' le Garlikemonger.' In Abingdon (Habyngdon)
Street, leading to the East Gate, was a quarry. In
St. Sepulchre's Lane, now probably Church Lane,
was a house formerly of Thomas Tresham, then in the
* Pari. Papers, 1835, vol. xxv, p. 1976.
• Ibid. p. 1977 J BoTo. Rec. ii, 511.
* Poll Booki, printed at Northampton
in ume years.
' Boro. Rec. ii, 509.
' Pari. Paprri, 1835, vol. xiv, p. 1965.
• Did. Nat. Biog.
'» Mem. R. (K.R.) 8, -n. i d.
" Cat. Pal. 1225-32, p. 171.
>• Pari R. ii, 85.
'• Cat. Pal. 1461-7, p. 187 J ibid. 1476-
85, p. 99.
" Ibid. 1476-85, p. 434.
" Boro. Rec. i, 202.
"Ibid, i, 113.
" Cat. Pal. 1292-1301, p. 610.
" Ibid. 1338-40, p. 17.
" Ibid. 1350-4, p. 174.
•" Information from the town clerk.
" Cat. Inq. ii, 78. The grant to his
father merely says 2S. payable at the
Exchequer. Roi. Carl. p. 93.
" Chan. Inq. Ed. I, ptf. loi, no. 2.
'* Extents and Surveys, 143.
»' Col. Fine, 1356-68, p. 150.
» Pari. R. ii, 85.
19
" Ibid, ii, 348.
" Boro. Rec. i, 308.
•' Assize R. 635, m 67 d.
" Boro. Rec. i, 251.
" Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press C.
48.
" Boro. Rec. \, 123.
"» Recently discovered in the Andrewr
Collection of MSS. of Lt. Col. Packe,
M.V.O.,who has presented it (1929) to the
Mayor and Corporation of Northampton
to be placed with the Borough Records, of
which it originally formed part.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
hands of the King. There were five tenements around
the cross of Alnoth {ad. crucem Alnoth ?). In the
Masters' Street {in vico Magistrorum) were various
houses which had been acquired by the College
of All Saints, and in the tenure of the College ;
near by were Fullers' Street and Weavers' Street.
In the South Quarter (the south part of Bridge Street)
and the parish of St. Gregory was ' Stokkwell Hall '
and lands of the fraternities of Corpus Christi and
St. Nicholas in the Wall, probably connected with
■tsaaatjeSTj
Northampton : The Bell Inn
the famous rood in the wall in St. Gregory's Church.
Laundry Street was probably near the river. The
district of Bridge Street {in lico Pontii) included the
holme or island called Barmerholme (Baums holem)
belonging to Sir John Longville, several tenements be-
longing to the chapel of the Blessed Mary and the
fraternity of the Holy Trinity, and land at the South
Gate belonging to the Hospital of St. Thomas the
Martyr. Under Kingswell Street we have mention of
a lane called ' Lewnyslane,' an inn in Bridge Street
called ' the Angel,' ' Wolmongerstrete ' and an ancient
rent from a tenement in ' le Cowmede ' where there
was formerly a mill. We next come to the Market
Place, where in the Glovers' Row there were 17 shops,
in Mercers' Row 9 shops and 2 tenements, the Re-
tailers' Row {Rengum kegratorum Socorum (sic)) 14
shops. In Butchers' Row there were on the north side
12 stalls and one shop and on the south side 14 stalls,
many of which belonged to religious houses. In
Fishers' Row there were shops and stalls. In Barbers'
Row in the Old Drapery there were 22 shops. In
Gold Street, the lands were largely in the hands of
religious houses. In the parish of the Blessed Mary
next the Castle there was a mill near the church and a
tenement belonging to the fraternity of the Blessed
Katherine in the church of St. Mary, and land outside
the West Gate belonging to the fraternity of Corpus
Christi. In tiie parish of St. Peter there was waste
land about the town wall and there were tenements
around the castle and the Friars Preachers. In the
North Quarter into which ' Berwardstrete ' ran was
a house held by Peytmyn the Jew. St. Sepulchre's
Street, now probably Sheep Street, extended to the
North Gate. Newland in the parish of St. Michael
seems to have extended to Bearward Street. There
was a tenement called ' le Grenetree ' near the Friars
Minor. ' Le Fawkon ' and an inn called ' le Hart ' in
the tenure of William Crawme, notary, were in Corn-
mongers' Row. There were also the Row where
barley, oats and drage were sold, a
Row opposite Bakers' Row, then
called Potters' Hill, Shoemakers' Row,
and the Tailory, where there was an
inn called 'le Swan.'
A terrier of the town property in the
year 1586 ^'^ shows that the borough
then held houses and lands in all the
five wards of the town, including a
good number of stables, gardens and
orchards, a house called St. George's
Hall,^^ eight shops under the Town
Hall, as well as arable and meadow lands
in Milton, Heyford, Pitsford, and
Cotton, and a house in Pitsford. A
good many of these plots were sold by
the town in 1621-2, probably in order
to get together the purchase-money
for Gobion's manor, which was ac-
quired in 1622 at the cost of £i,iio?*
The first mention of Gobions at
Northampton seems to be in U30, when Hugh Gobion
paid 10 marks for a duel.^ The Gobion family held a
considerable amount of property throughout the Mid-
land counties. Hugh Gobion witnessed a charter of
Earl Simon II to St. Andrews," and a Hugh Gobion was
sheriff of Northantsin 1161.^' On the death of Hugh
Gobion about 1 166 the sheriff seized his land,^* and
accounted henceforth for 100/. a year from the
land which was Hugh Gobion's'' until it was
recovered by his grandson in 1200.'"' Hugh's son
Richard granted by deed to St. Andrew's Priory
a shop, paying 5/. a year, ' which is set up at All
Saints Fair before the house of Hugh my father,
next the market place towards Northampton,'"
This Richard had seven sons and six daughters and
died before Il85.''2 Among the corporation records
are deeds by which William dc Vipont granted to
Richard Gobion, second son of the last, lands in Cotes
and beyond the South Bridge of Northampton.''^ This
is the ' Earl Gobion ' of Northampton tradition who
gave goodly commons and liberties to the town.^' His
lands, including the recovered ' Grange,' were again
seized into the king's hands later, as he joined the
baronial faction against John, but in 1 217 he was re-
stored to favour.'" He acted as royal Justice, and was
the patron of the Franciscans on their first coming to
Northampton, giving them shelter on his land outside
the East Gate.** His son Hugh owed i6j. ^d. for relief,
'according to the custom of the town of Northampton,'
" Northampt. Corp. Rcc. PrcH R. ^^. An
abitract ii printed Boro. Rec. ii, 153-165.
" For account of St. Georgc'i Hall,
KC Bore. Rrc. ii, 181-6.
'* Northampt. Corp. Dccdi, Prtii C.
101. •• Pipe R. 31 lien. I.
•• Farrer, Ilonon and Knighli' Fen, ii,
Z98.
" Pipe R. 7 Ilcn. II.
" Ibid. 12 Ilcn. II. "Ibid. 13 lien. II.
*° Ricardui Gubiun r.c. de 40 M. pro
liabenda leiiina dc 103 lulidatii terrc
infra burgum et extra quod dicitur terra
dc Cr.ingia. Pipe R. no. 45, m. 2 d;
of. J<el. Carl. p. 93.
•' Cott. MS. Vetp. E «vii, fo. 92.
20
*' \V. l''arrcr, Honors and Knighls' Fets,
i, R4.
*' Northampt. Corp. Dccdi, C 11.
" I.ee, Coll. p. 94.
•' Clotc R. 17 John, mm. 11, 12 j ibid.
I Hen. Ill, m 12.
" Ecclciton, Dc Advtnlu fralrum (cd.
A. G. Little), p. 19-30.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
in 1230.*' This Hugh joined the barons against
Henry HI, was taken prisoner in the siege of North-
ampton in 1264, and was disinherited after Evesham.^*
He recovered his lands from Robert de Turbervil, lord
of Crickhowel, for a payment of 95 marks,'*' in 1 267-70.
A deed of his at Northampton locates Gobion's grange
as being near St. Giles' churchyard.'" In 1275 his son
Richard succeeded," and the tnquisitio post morUm of
the latter in 1 301 gives a list of 49 houses and shops
held of him in Northampton, with the names of the
tenants.^'- Richard left two daughters, of whom the
younger, Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Paynell, in-
herited Gobion's manor in Northampton, together
with Knaptoft. Her son took the name of Gobion,'^
but his successors were known as Paynells. The manor
descended to Margaret Paynell, wife of Thomas Kcn-
nisman, whose daughter Elizabeth married John
Turpin, who died in 1493, when 13/. ^d. was still
payable as burgage rent to the mayor and corporation
of Northampton."'' From lier the manor descended
to George Turpin, who in 1558 sold the manor to
Robert Harrison for £\lo,''^ who in turn sold it to
the mayor and corporation of Northampton on 20
April 1622.
Among the town muniments, besides the title-deeds
of Gobion's manor, are deeds recording the acquisition
of Marvell's Mill, Millholme and Foot meadow in
1656,^ and records of various sales of town property,
notably of lands near the castle to Sir R. Haselrige in
1680." In the 17th and l8th centuries a great deal
of the town property was let at a low rent on long
leases, the lessee having, however, to pay a heavy fine
for renewal.^ In the l6th century the borough held
on lease lands to the west of the town formerly held
by St. James' Abbey, known as Duston lordship,
where the burgesses exercised common rights as in
the town fields. The borough failed, however, to
obtain the freehold of the lordship by purchase.^'
In 1835 the property of the borough, including
property whose origin was unknown, Gobion's manor,
the bailifT lands, land acquired more recently, the
profits of the butchers' stalls and the fees on the old
commons brought in £\,'\^^ lis. jd. per annum.*"
In addition to tliis the tolls were let at ^£200 a year,
and the trust estates and charity endowments brought
'° jCi>3°i odd." With the administration of
these charities went certain rights of patronage : the
corporation appointed the warden of St. Thomas'
Hospital,** the headmaster of the Free Grammar
School" and the corporation schools and the Vicar of
AH Saints'. The Assembly Books record various
resolutions with regard 10 the management of St.
Thomas' Hospital,** which appears to have been well
administered. It was moved in 1834 f^o™ ^^^ °ld
building at the bottom of Bridge Street (destroyed in
1874)*^ and the charity, in a house in St. Giles' Street,
still supports both inmates and out pensioners.*'
The advowson of All Saints was sold to the mayor and
corporation by Sir Thomas Littleton and his wife in
1619 for ;{^200,*' and remained in their hands till 1835
when, under tlie Municipal Corporations Act, they
had to sell it. Appointments to the living were made
by trustees, being such of the corporation as lived in
All Saints' parish.**
In 1275 it was alleged that the appointment of the
master of the hospital of St. John belonged to the
borough,** and an attempt was made by the mayor
and corporation to get control of the nomination in
the 17th century in vain." The bishop of Lincoln was
and is patron of the hospital,"- which was intended for
the poor of the county, as that of St. Thomas was for
the townspeople.'- The mayor and burgesses also had
the right, probably from its foundation, of presentation
to the chapel of St. Leonard attached to the Hospital
of St. Leonard without Northampton." In 1282
they asserted that the wardenship belonged to them of
the right and in the name of the lord king. Down to
1 294 the prior of St. Andrew's and the Vicar of Hard-
ingstone had to sanction the chaplain's appointment ;
after that the mayor and burgesses were the sole patrons
and the mayor was (x officio master of the hospital. In
1473 he and the Twenty Four calmly reduced the
number of beneficiaries to one, and leased the hospital
with all its lands and appurtenances to John Peck of
Kingsthorpe for life, on the condition that he should
provide the_ chaplain's board and lodging, keep the
buildings in repair, and maintain one man or woman
leper in place of the brothers and sisters of former
times.''' When the lessee died in 1505 the assembly
resolved to keep the management of the hospital in
their own hands, and each mayor had to take an oath
to govern the hospital truly.'* Two of the aldermen
were to act as wardens, with a bailiff under them to
le'vy the rents, and they were to render accounts annu-
ally. In 1546 St. Leonard's Hospital was said to have
lands worth /^lo 15/. <)d. a year, and to be held by the
mayor and Twenty Four in free alms, for the keeping
of one leper ;'* and in 1 547 it was taken into the king's
hands, and granted out again to F. Samwell, together
with the chapel of Sc. Katharine, in 1549." The
mayor and corporation protested vigorously, asserting
in a petition to the Chancellor of the Court of Aug-
mentations'* that for four hundred years and more
they had been lawfully seised of the hospital and chapel
of St. Leonard's. In response to this an inquiry was
held which -vindicated the claims of the corporation,"
" Fine R. 15 Hen. HI, m. 7,
" Annal. ."if on. (Rolli Scr.), iil, 229-30.
•• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, C. 15;
cf. Cal. Mi»c. Inq. I, 122.
" Ibid. C 17.
•' Cal. Iru}. ii, 78.
•' Chan. Inq. Ed. I, ptf. loi, no. 2.
'• Northampt. (Roll» Sec.) Corp. Deeds,
C. i; ; cf. Cal. Miic. Inq. I, 122.
" Inq. p.m.. Hen. VII, Ser. ii, vol. 9,
no. 42.
•* Northampt. Corp. Deeds, C 61, 63,
64. The manor then included 3 messuages
with orchards, etc., 600 acres of arable,
200 of meadow, 30 of pasture, 200 of
heath or moor and 10 acres of woodland.
•• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, C 106.
" Ibid. C 109.
•• Boro. Rec. ii, 166.
•• Ibid, ii, 229.
'• Pari. Papers, 1835, vol. xxv p.
1971.
•' Ibid. pp. 1971-5.
•■ See V.C.H. Northants. ii, 161.
•• Ibid, ii, 235-241.
" Boro. Rcc. ii, 3^r.
•• Alloc. Arch. Soc. Reps. x\i, 226.
" R. M. Serjeantson, The Hospital oj
St. Thomas, p. 7.
•' Feet of F. Trin. 17 Jas. I ; R. M.
Serjeantson, Hist, of Ch. of All Saints,
i^ortbampt. p. 185.
•• Lee, Coll. p. 129.
•• Rot. Hund. ii, 3.
21
"> Northants. Nat. Hist. Soc. and Field
Club, xvi, 229.
" Ibid, xvii, 12-18.
" Lee, Coll. p. 96.
" R. M. Serjeantson, The Leper Hos-
pitals of Northampt. reprinted from
Northants. Nat. Hist. Soc. xviii, March
1915, supplements the account in V.C.H.
Northants. ii, 159-161.
'* Boro. Rec. i, 402-5.
" Add. MS. 34308, fo. 21 ; V.C.H.
Northanu. ii, 160.
" Chantry Certificates for Northants.
1546, R. 36, no. 37.
" Pat. 2 Ed. VI, Pt. 2, m. 25.
" Aug. Off. Proc. bdle. 27, no. 4.
'• Ibid. Misc. Bks. 132, fo. 136.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
and they were allowed, on payment of ^41 to Samwell,
to keep the hospital as well as the chapel of St. Katha-
rine, to serve as a chapel of ease for the sick. After
tliis the rights of the corporation were unchallenged.
As leprosy died out, one poor man or woman was main-
tained up to 184.0, when the last beneficiary died, and
the considerable endowments of the hospital were
applied to the reduction of the rates. An investiga-
tion by the Charity Commissioners was hampered by
a refusal of the corporation to produce the records, and
in 1857 the Attorney-General filed an information in
Chancery and the facts were made public. After long
discussion, the property of St. Leonard's was assigned
to thesupportof the grammar school in July 1864. The
lands of the charity are described in det.iil in the town
terrier of 1586.^
The town property was administered by the mayor
and chamberlains, who had power from the 14th
century to let out lands under their common scal.*^
The existence of a common seal seems to be implied in
the reference to the letters patent of the town in the
charter of 1227 — an addition to the charter of 1200
which it mostly repeats. In 1282 it is definitely stated
that the common seal has been attached to certain
letters patent,'^ and there is at the Record Office one
such letter patent to which a seal was formerly at-
tached.** The oldest known common seal of North-
ampton appears to have belonged to the early 13th cen-
tury. It was circular, i| in. in diameter and bore an
embattled tower with closed portal, the walls and
battlements charged with fourteen irregular quatre-
foils. Over the battlements appears the head of a
knight, to the left, holding a crossbow and a banner-
flag ; in the field a sprig and leaves of foliage. The
inscription was sicillum : commune : norhamptone.**
The mayor's official seal, of less rude design, appears to
have been made early in the 14th century,^ and is
perhaps to be associated with the charter of 1299. It
was used for sealing letters accrediting freemen in other
towns and returns of writs by the bailiffs,** authenticat-
ing exemplifications of deeds enrolled on the Town
Memoranda Rolls*' and adding authority to private
deeds when the seals of the parties were not well
known.** It was circular, l| in. in diameter, and bore
a triple-towered castle, walls masoned and embat-
tled, doors open, supported by two lions passant
guardant of England ; in the field above, a reticulated
pattern. The inscription ran : • s' maioritatis ville
NORHAMTONiE.** Thcse two seals were in use down
to the last quarter of the 17th century** and were prob-
ably destroyed when superseded. The common seals
of 1667 and 1796 are in the keeping of the corporation.
That of 1667 is oval, and ^ in. long, and bears a
circular triple-towered castle, flanked by two lions,
with the inscription northamptoni.k 19 caroli 2 r.
ANCI.I.S. The common seal of 1796 is also oval and is
ij in. long, bearing on a shield the town arms of a
castle and two Uons. The inscription runs : North-
ampton charter renewed xxxvi GEO. III. The com-
mon seal now in use, made in 1879, is circular, 2} in. in
diameter, and bears on a shield the borough arms, with
the inscription, castello fortior concordia.
Impressions are extant of three other town seals.
There were two seals for use under the Statute of
Merchants for sealing recognizances ; the mayor's seal
and the clerk's counterseal. A letter from the burgesses
in 1 3 19 to the Chancellor reports that they have elected
their mayor to keep the great seal and a clerk, their com-
burgess, to keep the small one.^"- In 1351 Edward III
appointed one of his yeomen to keep the smaller seal,
but as he could not execute the office in person, it fell
back into the hands of the Northampton clerk.*'^ In
1408 the clerk lost the smaller seal, and the mayor
sent him up to the Exchequer to get it renewed.*' The
inscription on the mayor's seal (circular, i| in.) is
s' REGIS edwardi AD recogn' dekitorum. The design
is like that for London. The inscription on the clerk's
counterseal is
S : cl'ici : de : stat : m'cat : norhton,
and it bears a representation of St. Andrew onhiscross.**
The cloth seal, of which a cast is preser\ed at North-
ampton,** was used for stamping Northampton cloth
which had paid the subsidy. Only three other instances
of a cloth seal are mentioned in the British Museum
Catalogue of Seals, whilst there are seventeen distinct
examples of town seals under the Statute Merchant.**
The Northampton cloth seal is an inch in diameter,
and bears a king's head in the centre and round it the
inscription, s' : panorum : norhamton :*'
The open fields lay to the north and east of the
town, the meadows to the south being used for
pasture after haytime. There is a good map of the
lands formerly belonging to St. Andrew's Priory in the
year 1632 ; it shows a North Field, a Middle Field, and
a South Field, as well as Monkspark, Rushmill
Meadows and the Priory Leaze, and the town lands,
including the recently acquired Gobion's manor, are
indicated scattered among the other holdings.*'
Among the borough records is a deed of 1373 which
mentions lands lying in the North Field (Whetehul,
Nether Whetehul, and Bartholomew furlong), in the
East Field (Monkespark furlong) and the South Field
(Rrerewong and Mede furlong) as well as the Port-
mede.** There are constant references to the town
meadows and pastures. In 1 391 it was ordered that no
freeman should graze more than two beasts in the
common pastures without payment.* In 1553 the
assembly ordered ' That no man shall keep moor for
his franchis than iij bestes upon the commons in
alle, and that they be his owne . . . upon payne of
xld . . . Item that the Cowe medowe, the horse
medowe next ytt and Rawlines holme shal be kept
" Printed in full by Strjcantion, ut
lupra, pp. 42-4.
•' BoTO. Rtc. i, 251.
" Scrjcantion, Lrpcr Hcifilali of
NoTtbampt. p.io.
•• E«ch. K. R. Rilli7/2.
"* Cal. oj Srali, liril. Mm. ii, p.
141. For reproduction lee Boro. Rtc. ii,
142.
'» It it afHxcd to a deed of 1337. (Add.
Cb. 729).
•• Bofo. Rtc. i, 380, 3S4.
" e.g. Add. Ch. 732, 735, 22371.
" e.g. Add. Ch. 729, 730, 731, 22368.
" Cal. oJ Seals, Brit. Mus. ii, p. 141.
»° Add. Ch. 6132 (1684) bean the
common seal. For an ex.implc of the
personal seal of a mayor of Northampt.
lee that of Robert Fitr. Ilcury, mayor
1279 and 4 timet aftcrwardn, reproduced
in Scrjcanlion, Leper Hospitals of North-
ampt. p. 49, from Northampt. Corp.
Deedi, C 23.
•' Anct. Correip. x«xv, 19S.
" Cat. Pal. 1350-54, p. 99.
•• Anct. Correip. Ivii, 29.
22
•• Sec Boro. Rcc. ii, 142 ; Cat. of Seali
Bril. Mus. i, p. 145.
" It is in the collection of the North-
ants. Arch. Soc. in their rooms at the
I.adlci' Club, Northampt.
•• Cal. of Seals Brit. Mus. i, p. 141.
" Sec lioro. Rec. ii, 142.
•' A copy ii in the public library,
Northampt., the original, made by Marcus
Pierce, being in Meiirs. Markham'i office,
Guildhall Road.
•• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press C, 42.
' Bofo. Rec. i, 253-4.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
severall from the purification of Saynt Mary the
Virgin untyll the invention of the holy crosse in May
and hkewise from the assumption of our lady unto saynt
luke day the evangeliste upon payne of xld. every
beast.'* In 1556 the right of common was re-
stricted to freemen ' downlying and uprising and
dwelling within the liberties ' and further regulations
enforcing this restriction were passed in 1 599. Rules
were laid down in 1582 for the times for throwing open
The Cow Meadow, St. George's Leys, Balms Holme
and the Foot Meadow, and there were regulations from
time to time as to the branding of the cattle, the turn-
ing out of diseased beasts and the nuisances caused by
curriers or fullers, whilst from time to time the rates
payable for depasturing beasts and the numbers al-
lowed gratis to each freeman were altered. The freemen
enjoyed rights of common during ' the open tide ' not
only in the lands owned by the corporation but in those
of other proprietors, and Henry Lee describes a dis-
pute between the freemen and Mr. Bryan, the owner
of Marvells Mills and Millholm, in 1648, about the
date on which Millholm and Footmeadow were thrown
open. The freemen declared it should be Midsummer
day ; Bryan claimed as right the nine days' grace which
custom had sanctioned.* The Chamberlain's accounts
frequently mention the town bull.* They show that
280 horses and 103 cows were depastured by freemen
on the town commons in 1692 and 233 horses and 221
cows in 1698. The annual branding of the freemen's
cattle by the town chamberlain became the occasion of
a public holiday and a town feast.*
In 1778, in spite of the opposition of the corpora-
tion,* an act was passed for enclosing the open fields.'
That the scheme was in contemplation as far back as
1752 appears from a lease in that year of a farm in
Northampton Fields for fifteen years ' if the open fields
remain so long unenclosed.'* The fields of Harding-
stone, Kingsthorpe, Moulton and Duston had been
enclosed between 1765 and 1776. The commissioners'
award under the act of 1778, dated 24 June 1779, is at
the County Hall. It assigns to the corporation 133
acres of land in five allotments, and to the freemen,
at the special request of the corporation,* 87 a. I r.
29 p. on the raceground, to be subject to a horse-
race to be held between 20 Julv and 20 October every
year. Trustees were appointed for the management of
the new commons created by the award.** In 1870
the town held 189 a. o r. 39 p. of commons, including
the Freemen's common on the racecourse (formerly part
of Northampton Heath), where every freeman could
pasture 6 head of cattle at fixed rates ; the Old Com-
mons, vested in the corporation, comprising Mid-
summer Meadow, Cow Meadow, Calves Holme,
Baulms Holm and Foot Meadow ; and the New Com-
mons, also vested in the corporation.^' Under the
Northampton Corporation Markets and Fairs Act of
1870,** the freemen were given certain rights in the
New Commons in return for giving up their rights in
a portion of the Cow Meadow for the building of the
present Cattle Market (1870-73). In 1882, under the
Northampton Corporation Act of that year,** the
freemen's rights of common of pasture and all other
rights in the freemen's commons were sold to the
corporation for a perpetual annuity of £800, to be
paid yearly to the Freemen's trustees.** This marks
the end of the common pastures of the town as such ;
the racecourse is now preserved as an open recreation
ground for the growing popui.ition of the northern
part of the town, whilst Cow Meadow, Calvc^holme
and Midsummer Meadow serve that purpose in the
south. The laying out of pleasure walks in Cow
Meadow began as far back as 1703, when the assembly
authorised the expenditure of ^^30 in planting trees,
making walks and ' other occasions and conveniences
to be ornamentall and useful.' The discovery of a
chalybeate spring, called Vigo Well from the vkiory of
1702, had roused the hope of making Northampton
a fashionable watering place.** In 1784 a new walk
was laid out from St. Thomas of Canterbury's well
to Vigo well, planted with trees ' to form an agreeable
shelter ' and fenced to preserve them from the cattle.*'
Sincel884further park lands and pleasure grounds have
been acquired by the town, which owned, by 1921,
409 a. 3 r. 26 p. for these purposes. Of these Abington
Park was acquired in 1 895 and 1 903, 20 acres being
presented to the corporation, with Abington Hall
by Baroness Wantage in 1893, and the rest being pur-
chased by the town ; Victoria Park in St. James' End
was acquired partly by purchase, partly by the gift
of Earl Spencer in 1898 and 1910 ; Far Cotton Recrea-
tion Ground and Kingsthorpe Recreation Ground by
purchase in 1912 and 1920, and Dallington Park
(22 a. 3 r. 28 p.) by the gift of Messrs. C. E. and T. D.
Lewis, in 1921.*'
The first reference to a fair at Northampton is
found in the charter of Simon II granting to the
monks of St. Andrew's priory a tenth of the profits
of the fair held on All Saints' Day in the church
and churchyard of All Saints** which is described
(1180-11S3) as eccksia de foro in Northampton?-^ The
fair may have grown out of the church wake, and
be older than the Conquest. On 9 November 1235
Henry HI by letters close forbade the holding of either
market -^r fair in the church or churchyard of AH Saints,
and ordered them to be held henceforth in a waste
and empty place to the north of the church — the pre-
sent market square.^* The inspiration of the reforms
undoubtedly came from Robert Grosseteste, Arch-
deacon of Northampton from 1221.^* The date of
this and many other letters of Henry HI which con-
cern the fair makes it clear that it went on well into
the second half of November in the 13th century, and
the parliamentary petition of 1334^2 states that at that
time it lasted from All Saints' Day (No-vember l) to
St. Andrew's (November 30). It came to be associated
especially with the feast of St. Hugh (November 17),
» Ben. Rtc. ii, 21 5 ; Kc following pagei
for detailed rcfcrcncei to regulations here
quoted.
• Lee, Coll. p. 106.
• BoTo. Rec. ii, 2Z2-3.
• Ibid, ii, 223.
• See A»»embly Bookt for 7 Feb. 1770;
20 Sept. and 14 Nov. 1776.
' iS George III, c. 77 (T>rivau Act).
• Norihanii. .V. and Q. i, 3 (1886).
• See Assembly Book, 18 Sept. 1778.
'• Ibid. 2 March 1778.
" Pari. Papers, 1870, vol. 55. Return of
all Boroughs possessing common lands, p. 22.
" 33 and 34 Vict. c. 45. (Local Act).
" 4; and 46 Vict. c. 212. (Local Act).
'• Information from Mr. A. E. Chick.
" Morton, Natural Hist, of Nortbants.
(1712), p. 279, says the waters are good
for the stone.
23
" Boro. Ree. ii, 262-3.
" Information from Corporation Tear
Book, p. 43.
" Cott. MS. Ve«p. E xvii, fo. 6.
" Serjeantson, Hist, of Cb. of All Saints,
Nortbampl. p. 14.
» Cal. Close, 1234-1237, pp. 206-7.
" V.C.H. Nortbants. ii, lo-ll.
" Pari. R. ii, 85.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
that Bishop of Lincoln who, in 1 190, had braved the
fury of the burgesses of Northampton by suppressing
the cult of a pseudo -victim of the Jews in Alt Saints'
Church,^ and had been canonised in 1220.
The fair of Northampton was one of the four or five
great fairs from which purchases were systematically
made for the royal household in the reigns of John
and Henry III.** In 1208, 1212, 1213 and 1214, for
instance, John ordered purchases of robes and horses
to be made there.*' In 1218 two royal baiUfls were
appointed to ' keep the fair,' and look out for the royal
interests there.^' Whatever other duties these terms
may cover, the two men were empowered to make prises
of wool, cloth and hides for the king's use, payment
being promised later. A subsequent order directed
that the wool seized at the fair should be sold at rates
fixed by the mayor and reeves of Northampton.*^ In
1231 William de Haverhill and William the king's
tailor were ordered to buy at Northampton fair 150
robes for the knights of the king's household, 100
robes for his clerks and Serjeants, five robes for
grooms (garciones), and 300 tunics for alms.*^ Other
orders for the purchase of cloth at the fair of North-
ampton occur later.** In 1240 the King and Council
arranged that all the King's prises from merchants
should be paid for at four terms ; the Northampton
purchases being paid for at the fair of St. Ives, the
St. Ives purchases at Boston, the Boston purchases at
Winchester, and the Winchester purchases at North-
ampton.'*' In spite of the provision, the jurors of
1274-5 complained that Henry III owed the common-
alty of Northampton ,{^4,000 and ;£loo for cloth bought
at the fairs of Northampton and other places.'^ Both
the king and burgesses of Northampton were also in
debt to Douai merchants for cloth sold at Northamp-
ton,** and there is an account of an uproar raised by
merchants of Ypres and Douai at Northampton Fair in
1254 when the King's officials enforced the Assize of
cloth.^ The charter of 1257 provided that no foreign
merchants should lodge in North.-jmpton during the
fairs without the licence of the bailiffs.^ A deed of
1 280 records the grant by Robert of Pitsford of a house
in Abington Street to a burgess of Northampton on
condition that during the fairs he should provide a
kitchen and stabhng for nine horses for the Burellers
of London.**
In 1268 the king granted a yearly fair on St. James'
day (July 25) to the abbot and monks of St. James'
without Northampton,** and this fair, held outside
the town at St. James' End beyond the west bridge,
was a frequent source of dispute between the town and
the abbey till the dissolution of the monasteries,
when the expenses and the profits of it cancelled out.*'
After that date it became a town fair, but it continued
to be held in ' le fayre yard,' ** or elsewhere in the
Abbey ground*' till about 1700. Dr. Cox found
references to a fair on St. George's day as early as the
reign of Edward I.^" In 1334, the town petitioned
for a fair to last from Whitsuntide to the Gules of
August, and the council recommended the grant of an
eight days' fair.*^ The charter of 1 337, however,
granted a fair to last for four weeks from the second
Monday after Trinity.** This fair is not mentioned
in the charter of 1495, which clearly reflects the decline
in Northampton trade by hmiting the duration of
the spring and autumn fairs to eight days each.**
In 1566 there were still only two fairs — St. George's
and St. Hugh's.** The charter of 1599 sanctions the
holding of seven fairs, each to last three days, on
St. George's Day (23 April), St. Hugh's (17 November),
the Nativity of Our Lady (8 September), the Annun-
ciation (25 March), the Conception of the Virgin
(8 December), tlie Assumption (15 August), and
St. James' (25 July).** When Bridges wrote (before
1724), an eighth fair had been added on 9 February.**
The charter of 1796 retained these eight fairs, but
as the old calendar was followed, the date of each was
put forward eleven days. A new fair was sanctioned
for 19 June (new style.)*' By 1 81 5 a tenth fair had
been added, on the first Thursday in November, wliich
was toll-free.** In 1849 there were thirteen fairs.
In addition to those just mentioned there were fairs
on the second Tuesday in January and the third
Monday in March, whilst a new fair called the Wool
Fair, on i July, had been recently estabhshed.**
The fair on 19 September was known as the Cheese
Fair, an innovation of Mr. Slowick Carr, Mayor of
Northampton 1750-51.**' An Act of 1870 empowered
the corporation of Northampton to establish markets
and fairs,*^ and at present there are twelve fairs, the
wool fair having been dropped.**
The charter of 1 599 sanctioned the holding of a
free market every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday
by the burgesses ' as heretofore accustomed.' ** In
1683 they were also granted a cattle market for the
first Thursday in every month.** In 1740 the market
day was Saturday ;** in 1849, as now, Wednesday and
Saturday were the market d.ays.*' Wednesday is the
day for fat stock, Saturday for store cattle. The
cattle market, opened in 1873, is on part of the Cow
Meadow, and extends over six acres, with accommo-
dation for 5,000 sheep, 5,000 beasts, and 500 pigs.
The regulation of the markets was in the hands of the
mayor as clerk of the markets from 1385 by charter,
and probably before that date by custom. The
standard weights and measures belonging to the
corporation, including a bushel and gallon dated 1601,
are preserved in the Town Museum.*'
" V.C.II. Norlhanii. ii, 12.
•* The otheri were Boston, Stamford ,
Wincheiter, St. Ivei, Bury St Edmund'i.
Rol. Hund. ii, 5.
"Rot. I.ilt. Claus. i, 100, 127, 154,
'77-
•• Cat. Pal. 1216-2?, 178.
«' Rol. I.ill. Claus. i, 3S3.
'* Cal. Cloie, 1231-34, p. I. Sec alto
Cal. Liberait R. i, 3.
" Rol. Ltlt. Claus. i, 580b ; Cal. Pat.
'i.n-47. P- »39i ibid- 1247-58, P- 37' i
ibid. tz66-7i, pp. 393, 718.
w Cat. Pal. 1232-47, p. 239.
•' Rol. Hund. ii, 5.
•• Cal. Pal. 1232-47, p. 393 ; ibid.
1266-72, pp. 393, 717.
" Ibid. 1247-58, p. 430.
•• Boro. Rec. i, 47.
" Anct. D. (P.R.O.), B.2465.
" Cal. Chan, ii, 100.
" Valor. Eccl. iv, 319.
'• Chan. inq. p.m., Charlci I, ccccxviii,
68.
•• Bridget, op. cit. i, 501.
" Boro. Rec. ii, 187.
«' Pari. R. ii. 85.
•• Chart. R. 1 1, Ed. Ill, m. 32, no. 67.
*' Boro. Rtc. i, 107.
•* Ibid, ii, 297.
H
" Ibid, i, 124.
«• Bridges, op. cit. i, 433.
" Boro. Rec. i, 177.
*' Hist, of Norlhampl. 181;, p. 20.
'• G. N. Wet ton, Guide-book to
Norihampt. p. 86. The fair is now held in
the Cattle Market.
'"> Boro. Rec. ii, 40.
" 33 ,ind 34 Vict. c. 45. (Local Act).
" Kelly, County Directory (1924).
" Doro. Rec. i, 134.
•• Ibid, i, 146.
" Bridges, op. cit. i, 433.
" Wctton, op. cit., p. 86.
•' Boro. Rec. ii, 194-5.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
The street names of Northampton are a fairly clear
indication of the marketing centres of the medieval
town. Sheep Street, The Horse Market, and the
Hog Market lie in the north-western quarter ; Corn
Hill,^ Malt Hill and Wood Hill north and east of the
Market Square ; Mercers Row to the south and the
Drapery to the west of it, whilst W'oolmonger Street
runs to the south west, and Gold Street (once Gold-
smiths' Street) runs west from tlie centre of the town.
Henry Lee believed that the original market square
was in the open space known as the Mayorhold or
Marehold where the first Town Hall stood ;'"' but
the early description of All Saints' as (/^/ero** suggests
that in the 1 2th century the market was already held
where it is to-day. The market square itself, known
as the Chequer from the 14th century, has long been
held one of the chief distinctions of Northampton.
Morton in 17 1 2 says ' The Market Hill is lookt upon
as the finest in Europe ; a fair, spacious, open place.' "
Pennant calls it ' an ornament to the town ; few can
boast the hke,' *^ and the Chartist Gammage calls it
' one of the prettiest in England.' ** The butchers'
stalls or shambles to which a number of early deeds
refer** were probably placed here, and it is supposed
that the rows mentioned in early deeds, such as
wimplers' row, mercers' row, cobblers' row, cooks' row
and malt row'* ran along the west side of the square,
where to-day a line of shops separates the Drapery
from the market place. A market cross is mentioned
in 14th and 15th century deeds, and the new one,
erected in 1535, a fine piece of Renaissance work, as
described by Henry Lee,** was destroyed in the fire
of 1675. The market place also contained the great
conduit, erected about 1481, a building of two or
three stories, with a l.all above the conduit which was
used for meetings of companies that had constitu-
tions for regulating trade," and with arches below
containing shops in the 17th and a bridewell in the
1 8th century. These, with all the buildings round the
market square, except the Town Hall and Dr. Danvers'
House in its north-east corner, were destroyed in the
fire of 1675.'* From an early date the market square
has been the centre of the civic no less than the
mercantile life of the borough, and has witnessed a
series of notable pubhc meetings such as the holding
of the forest eyre of 1637,** the disputed election ' by
the popularity ' in 1663,'" the great debate between
Fergus O'Connor and Richard Cobden in 1844,'^
down to the public reception of the present King and
Queen on 23 September 191 3. ''^
The fair and market days were the only occasions
on which foreigners were allowed to sell their wares in
Northampton, and the fair and market tolls made an
important part of the borough revenues. They were
levied by the town bailiffs or their deputies at a fixed
scale of rates, revised from time to time in the assem-
bly.'* Besides the market tolls, smaller tolls on the
sale of corn and wood in the town were leviable, and
the corn toll was collected in kind down to 1775.'*
The position of Northampton as the county market
town is well illustrated by the corn riots of 1693-4.
In November 1693 the 'mobile' cut sacks of corn
and threw the wagons into the river on several market
days in succession, whilst many came to the market
with knives in their girdles to force the sale of corn at
their own prices.'* In June 1694 again loads of corn
were seized and the mayor and his brethren defied
and knocked about ; and a free fight took place in
which two were killed and some sixty wounded."
The occasion of the riots was the dearth noted by
Lee, together with the sight of corn being sold in
large quantities out of the town — presumably for the
troops over sea." The market for beasts and sheep,
of little or no importance in the 1 8th century, was
revived in 1802 by the mayor of that time and
developed steadily thenceforward."
Besides the tolls on sales, traverse tolls were col-
lected, from the 12th century if not earlier, from
beasts and burdens passing through the town. In
the oldest borough custumal (<-. 1 190) it is said that
these tolls are collected at certain fixed places."
According to the presentment of the jurors in the
eyre of 1329,*" they hai been collected since 1264,
when the town was in the king's hand, at points along
the roads leading to Northampton, distant, in some
cases, as much as fifteen miles from the town, so as to
prevent strangers evading the toll by going round the
town instead of through it. At this date the toll
places were at Slipton on the Kettering road, at
BiUing Bridge on the WeUingborough road, and at
Syresham Cross on the Brackley Road.*^ In the
reign of Elizabeth the tolls were collected at the en-
trance to the town, and it had become customary for
the baihffs to lease the right of collecting them to
private persons.*^ In 1 765 the market tolls and traverse
tolls together were let at a rent of ^^87 a year. The
system was continued to 1829, the rents falhng to
70 guineas in 1801 and rising to ;^2I9 in 1829, owing
probably to stricter exaction. This increased strin-
gency led to resistance, and finally to the great Toll
Cause of Lancum v. Lovellin 1831, when the corpora-
tion incurred expenses of over j^2,ooo in defending
its rights to levy the tolls.*' The test case was
fought on a claim for lid. toll upon oxen bought in
" The Corn Cbrpinge is mentioned in
1265 (Ca/. Chart, ii, 53) and the Strau-
tcbepingeia 1301 {Hiil.MSS. Com. Ref. 15,
^fP- ». P- 73)-
" Lee, Coll. p. 91. " See above.
" Morton, Nat. Hiit. oj Nortbanu. p. 23.
•' Jottnuy from Cbeiter to London (1780),
p. 306.
•• R. C. Gammage, Hiit. oj the Chartist
Movement, 1894, p. 1 17. The iron lamp
in the middle of the market tquare was
given in 1863 \>y Capt. Samuel Isaacs of
the Northants RiSe Volunteers.
** Anct. D. (P.R.O.),B. 2466, 2467,2484,
e.g. * quoddam schamellum in rengo
schamellorum camificum,' cf. ' Butchers
Row,' in Anct. D. B. 3232 ; ' Kytstalles,'
Boro. Ret. ii, 283.
•• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press C. I,
C. 6 ; Anct. D. (P.R.O.), 6444, 2549, 2764 ;
Add Ch. 6117.
" Lee, Coll. pp. 94-5. •' Ibid. p. 132.
" Hartshorne, Hist. Mem. of Northampt.
p. 234. The Riding, a small street in this
neighbourhood, is named after the Riding
School, where Methodism was first
preached in Northampton in 1766.
" Bridges, op. cit. i, 431.
" Lee, Coll. p. 113
" Gammage, Hist, of Chartist Move-
ment, p. 254-5.
" Noriiamfl. Independent, 2.
" Boro. /J«.ii, 188-90. "Ibid. 191.
" Cal. S. P. Dom. 1693, p. 397.
" Ibid. Add. 1689-1695, p. 262.
" Ibid. p. 263 ; 1694-5, p. 228.
25
" Report of the Trial for the Northampt.
Toll Cause (Northampt. 1833), pp. 241-2.
The receipts for tolls and rents at the
Cattle Market were in 1914 ,{[2,923, and in
1927 ^[4,462 and for the General Market
in 1914 ,(|2,ioo and in 1927 ^[7,035.
'• Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.), 98, £0.
159 v-
" Assize R. 635, m. 51, m. 70.
"So in the Liber Custumarum of c.
1460, Boro. Rec. i, 222. See also Rot.
Hund. ii, 2, and Assize R. 619, m. 75, for
private persons who were trying in 1274
and 1285 to usurp the town's right of
collecting these toUs.
" Boro. Rec. ii, 201-206.
" Pari. Papers 1835, vol. xxv, pp. 1971,
■973-
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Northampton market, and led. traverse toll upon
laden waggons going through the town, and a great
body of legal precedents was cited — and misinter-
preted— by counsel for and against the corporation.**
Judgment was given for Lancum, the lessee of the
corporation, in February 1832, but an application for
a new trial was granted, on the ground of the rejection
of legal evidence, in January 1833.*^ However, the
defendant, an old countryman, died in July 1833
before the fresh trial could be held.*' The case
revealed a good deal of ill feeling between the corpora-
tion and the agriculturists of the surrounding district,
though a declaration signed by 244 farmers and graziers
of the neighbouriiood expressed their appreciation
of the value of the Northampton fairs.*' One of
the first acts of the reformed corporation was
to discontinue the traverse toUs, as contrary to
the spirit of the time and the freedom of trade,
in i836.8«
The fact that leather clippings were
TRADES found with a coin of Edward the Con-
fessor at the bottom of a well covered by
the Norman earthworks of the castle*' has been
adduced in proof of the existence of a pre-Conquest
leather trade. There is, however, no early evidence
of any outside market for Northampton leather goods
and all the medieval sources suggest that textile
industries took the first place in the days of the
town's early prosperity. The earliest custumal
(c. 1 1 90) mentions no craft but that of the weaver,
who is classed with the nurse as a domestic servant not
to be enticed away by a rival employer.^ It also refers
to the sale of wool, thread, fresh hides, honey, tallow,
cheese and flesh by the burgesses at the fair. In 1202
Northampton was one of eleven towns which pur-
chased the right to buy and sell dyed cloth as they
were wont to do under King Henry, that is, without
keeping the assize of 1 197.'^ VVe have seen that the
Northampton fairs were noteworthy for the sale of
cloth and of furs in the reigns of John and Henry HI,
and the petition of the burgesses to Parhament in
1334 indicates that some of this cloth at least was
home made. ' In the time of King Henry . . . when
the staple of wool was at divers places in England . . .
there were at Northampton 300 workers of cloths,
who paid on every cloth a fixed sum towards the
farm of the town, as well as a fixed rent from their
houses where they used to dweU in the said town,
which are now fallen to the ground.'*^ The 13th cen-
tury custumal contains regulations as to dyeing, and
regulations as to the weaving of cloth, dated 1 251,
which bear out the other evidence as to the impor-
tance of the trade.
Clause 23. Consideratum est quod nullus operarius
pannorum ponat in panno suo, sc. imperiali, brasil
nee tinctum de verme, nee in albo stragulato scorthe
neque aiiam falsam tincturam. . . .
24. Si pannus inueniatur terra tinctus, et proprius
pannus fuerit tinctoris, amittatur, et si alienus et
ex consensu ipsius fecerit, similiter amittatur. Et
sinon de consensu ipsius tinctor abjuret oificium
suum per annum et diem. . . .
25. Nullus tinctor menstruet aliquem pannum
cake. . . .
26. Nullus operatur pannos nisi pannus sit de
rationabili sequela sc. peior ulna in panno tincto non
valeat minus unum denarium ad plus et imperiale
unum obolum.
34. Consideratur quod si aUquis textor alicuius
pannum male texerit et super hoc convictus fuerit
amittat laborem suum (et) duos denarios ad commo-
dum ville.
35. Operatores pannorum qui textores sunt non
sedeant super utensiUa'^ ad pannos suos proprios nee
aUenos texandos.'* . . .
36. Provisum est quod quihbet pannus albus sit de
triginta et triginta porteriis et imperiale de viginti et sex
et viginti septem. Albus stragulatus eius latitudinis.**
These regulations indicate advanced development
both in technique and in organisation ; both dyers
and weavers are represented as working with other
men's material. Other regulations provide that
woaders from outside the town may only bring in
woad and sell it by Ucence of inspectors,^ and forbid
dyers to throw their waste products into the streets."
Scarlet Well is mentioned as early as 1239,** and local
tradition, according to Morton, asserted that London
cloth had formerly been sent to Northampton to be
dyed," and that cloth miscoloured at Nottingham
was brought to a good scarlet here. ^ The eyre roll
of 1247 records the death of a dyer, scalded by falHng
into a vat of his own dye.^ The Fullers' Street is
mentioned in a deed of 1250-60,^ the Drapery 1202-
1220,* the VVimplers' Row as early as 1189-94.^
Northampton burgesses were employed as experts by
Henry III to buy cloth for him at Ljmn and Stamford.*
In 1274 the jurors giving a list of the craftsmen
{menestralli) who have left the town to escape the
heavy tallages, mention fullers, weavers, dyers,
drapers, glovers and skinners,' and mention burgesses
with the surnames VVaydour (or woader) Mercer,
Comber, Tinctor, as well as a lituirius. The estreats
of the town court, c. 1290, mention a taverncr, a
carpenter, a baker, a fisher, a maltmongcre, a miller,
a knyfsmith, a carter, a peyntour, a skynnere, a woman
maker of cords, a catour, a laver, a latoner, a tailor,
and a plomer.* Pentecost de Kershalton, mayor of
Northampton in 1297, 1301, 1302, 1304, 1307 and
probably some other years also, was a ' deyster.' '
The petition of 1334 testifies to a decline in cloth
" Report oj the Trial of tbt Norlbampt.
Toll CauiCy Lancum v. Lowell, NorthampC.
1833.
•* Ibid. pp. 313-455. " Ibid. p. 461.
•' lloro. Kec. ii, 2C7. " Ibid, ii, io8.
•• Alloc. Arch. Soc. Rcpl. xv, pt. ii,
p. 205.
•• nate«on, Boro. CuiUmt (S.S.) i, 215.
•' Pipe R. 48, m. II d.
•> Pari. R. ii, 85.
" Thii would appear to forbid the uje
o{ a loom in which the warp wai kept
light by meant of a bar on which the
weaver lat, initcad of hit uiual teparate
leat. This would produce an uneven
•train, .nnd »o bad cloth. (Information
from Mr. L. F. Salzman.)
•• The last two clauses arc dated 25
March, 35 Henry III.
" Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.), 98, fl. 161 v,
162.
»• Ibid. fo. 162 V. ; c.f. Batcion, Rec. of
Boro. of Lticei. i, 250.
•' Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.),98,fo. 161 v.
" Boro. Rec. ii, 256.
" Morton, Nat. Hiit. of Northanit.
(1712), p. 270. Not as stated in V.C.U.
Nortbants. ii, 336, in Morton's own time.
26
' Boro. Rec. ii, 256.
' Assize R, 614 B. m. 48 d. This seemt
to be the meaning of ' cecidit in uno
plurnbo buUicnti de jalcis* (weld ?).
' Anct. D. (I'.R.O.) A. 9876.
•Cott. MS. Tib. E. 5,fo. 181 b.
• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press
Ci.
• Cat. Pat. 1232-47, pp. 300, 449.
' Rol. Hund. ii, 3.
' Northantt. Notes and Queries (New
Ser.\ V, 203-211.
• Boro. Rec. ii, 549 ; Memoranda Rolls ;
Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press C. 43.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
working in the 14th century, shared by Northampton
with Leicester, Oxford, Stamford and Nottingham.'"
Nevertheless, Northampton, as we have seen, had its
own seal for the cloth subsidy. James Hart, writing
in 1633, speaks of the ruins of great buildings once
employed in the clothing trade,'* but the only building
recorded is the Wool Hall, and 14th century notices
of Northampton refer rather to the wool trade than
to the dotli industry. In 1274 six burgesses had been
presented for exporting wool to foreign parts, contrary
to the king's prohibition, one being responsible for
68 and another for 80 sacks. ^^ Northampton sent four
of its merchants to the merchants' assembly of 1337
which formed the syndicate that cornered the wool of
England for the benefit of Edward III,'* ana there are
other indications of a wool trade of some importance.'*
But in its «n3ol trade no less than its cloth trade it was
completely outdistanced by other towns and counties
of England.'*
The frequent presence of the king and court must
have stimulated various other crafts besides the
textile. In 1224, when besieging Bedford, Henry
was able to call on the smiths of Northampton for
4,000 quarrels, well headed and feathered, and for
150 good pickaxes." Two cartloads of Gloucester
iron were also to be sent from Northampton to
Bedford for the king's works there. Hides, both
white and tanned, were demanded, and with them two
saddlers with their craftsmen for making targes."
The trades mentioned in 1274 not concerned with the
clothing or leather industries were mostly victualling ;
vintners, spicers, mustarders, fishmongers." A gold-
smith is mentioned in 1233 ; '* a tanner and a parch-
ment maker in 1247.*' In 1325 37 pairs of shoes and
two of boots were stolen from one shop ;2' and there
were a Tanner's Street, a Glovery, a Saddlery and a
" Cordwauria " near All Saints' in 1332.^ In the
eyre roll of 1329 there is mention of weavers, skinners,
barbers, dyers, tailors, shearmen, brewers, taverners,
garlic-mongers (or aillours), masons, cordwainers,
cobblers, curriers, and a romonqeour?^
Amongst the economic ingredients of medieval
Northampton, the Jews ought not to be overlooked.
Jews of Northampton occur on the Pipe Rolls from
1 1 70,** and there was an anti-Semitic riot here in 1190
which St. Hugh intervened to check.^ In 1 194
Northampton with 39 Jews comes fifth on the hst of
English towns with Jewries, after London (112),
Lincoln (82), Norwich (42), and Gloucester (40).**
In that year a chest was set up at Northampton, as
elsewhere, for the deposit of Jewish bonds and deeds,
and two Jews and two Christians appointed as custo-
dians. Henry III commanded in 1237, not for the
first time, that no Jew hould live in Northampton-
shire outside the king's town of Northampton,*' and
showed his sense of responsibility for them by his
command to the leading burgesses in June 1264 to
protect the Jews who had taken refuge in the castle
during the disorders of the spring.** Some of the
Jews who had deposited their chattels with Christians
for safe-keeping in the emergency found it difficult to
recover them later.*' The Plea Rolls of the Jewish
Exchequer shew us the Jews of Northampton acting
as bankers for both town and -ounty. Burgesses
like Robert son of Henry or Robert of Leicester
borrowed money from them at the illegal rate of \od.
a week in the pound ;^ knights of the shire, Uke
Robert de Pavely of Paulers Pury or Hugh de
Chanceaux of Upton, pledged their manors to them."
In the 1 3th century the Jewish community in North-
ampton must have been shrinking steadily. A
number of houses once possessed by Jews in North-
ampton are mentioned as being granted by the king
to other persons, such as to the Master of the Temple
in 1215,'* the earl of Winchester in 1218,^ Philip
Marc in 1219,'* Stephen de Scgrave in 1229,** and
Robert de Mara in 1248.3' In 1277 the Northampton
Jews were charged with a ritual murder,*' and in 1278
a general attack on them for clipping and forging coin
led to the execution and forfeiture of many Northamp-
ton Jews.** A series of grants of houses once belong-
ing to Jews are enrolled on the Charter Roll 1280-
1286.** When the Jews were finally expelled in 1290
the inquest into their houses, rents and tenements
showed that 5 houses were held in Northampton by five
separate Jews, and the community of the Jews held
a synagogue, two houses near its entry, two houses
outside the north gate and a burial ground.*" A later
document suggests that the synagogue of the Jews,
granted to the Abbot of St. James in 1 291,*' lay in
Silver Street.** Other Jews' houses are described as
Iving in the Corn Row,** in the market place,** in
Larttwychene,*^ in Berewardstrete,** in the Corne-
chepyng,*' whilst Henry Lee describes as Jewish
three houses standing before the fire of 1675, one near
the Red Lion in the Horsemarket, one near the Ram
in the Sheepmarket, and one in Silver Street.** The
Jewish community then were not confined to one
" Etig. Hist. Rev. xxxix, 22.
" Hart, Diet cj the Dneased, p. 149.
'• Rot. HunJ. ii, 4.
'* Unwin, Finance and Trade under
Edward 11 Jj p. 189.
'* Woolmonger Street is mentioned
1329 (Aiiize R. 635, m. 67 d.) A bond of
I3i9i> extant for the delivery of a half-
tack of good ewes* wool by a Northampton
merchant to a man of Ashby St. Ledgers.
Anct. D. (P.R.O.) A. 9616.
'• Eng. Hilt. Rev. xxxix, p. 34 ; Pari. R.
». ^75-
" Roi. Litt. Clam, i, 612, 613, 615.
" Ibid, i, 606.
" Rot. Hund. ii, 1-5.
'• Anct. D. (P.R.O.) C. 2280.
«• Assize R. 614 B. m. 48.
" Ibid. 635, m. 64.
"Add. Ch. 61 17.
" Assize R. 635, mm. 61-70.
•* Jacobs, Jeui oj Angevin England, p. 73
" y.C.H. Nvrihanu. ii, 11.
"Jacobs, op. cit. pp. 378 381. In
1255 the relative position of Northamp-
ton was a good deal lower ; the share of
the Northampton Jewry in the tallage
of that year was equal to that of Bedford
and Bristol, and below those of Oxford,
Worcester, Winchester, York and Canter-
bury. Cat. Pat. 1247-58, p. 443.
•' Cat. Close, 1234-7, p. 425.
" Cal. Pat. 1258-66, p. 320-1. The
baronial party was re sponsible for massacres
of Jews at London and Canterbury in
April 1264. Annal. Mon. (Rolls Set.), iii,
230 ; Liber de Ant. Leg. p. 62.
»• Rigg, Cal. PUa R. of Exc. oj Jews,
V- '9'-
•• Ibid. pp. 34, 39.
"Ibid. pp. 114, 287; Cal. Pat.
1266-72, p. 534.
" Rot. Litt. Claui. i, 196.
" Ibid, i, 366.
27
» Ibid, i, 386.
" Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 276.
" Ibid. 1247-51, p. 130.
>' y.C.n. Northanls. ii, 13.
"Annal. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 279;
Cal. Pat 1272-81, p. 362.
»• Chart. R. 73, mm. 2, 3, 4 ; 7+ m- 4 i
75 m. 2.
'" Extents and Surveys, 143, 1-2, no. 40.
See Cal. Pal. 1281-92, p. 381, for safe
conduct oversea to a Northampton Jew
mentioned in the Extent.
" Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 199.
" Cox and Serjeantson, Hist, of Cb. of
Holy Sepulchre, Nortbampl., p. 126.
" Extents and Surreys, 143, 1-2, no.
40.
" Ibid.
" Ibid.
" Chart. R. 74, m. 4.
•' Cal. Pat. 1358-61, p. 211.
♦' Lee, Coll. p. 95.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Jewry, though they seem to hare preferred the
northern and western parts of the town.
There is no clear reference to any craft organisation
till the 1 5th century, though the 13th century custumal
refers to master butchers,*' and the expression
bachelerie de Northampton has been interpreted to
mean associations of journeymen,^ the economic
equivalent of the political bachehria. The economic
regulations of the 13th century custumal show the
prepositura as the authority regulating primarily
conditions of buying and selUng,^^ but also, in the case
of weavers, dyers and butchers, the quaUty of the
goods offered for sale. The butcher pays a fee to the
town, ' as he used to do to his peers,' for the right to
become a master.^^ ^^^ when in the 15th century
the town records begin, it is noteworthy that the town
government takes the initiative, in one instance at
least, in forming a ciaft gild, and keeps throughout a
controlling hand on the regulations of the crafts, both
assisting in drafting the rules, swearing in the wardens
and demanding reports from them, and enrolling the
constitutions in the town records. In these craft
ordinances the textile industries are still prominent.
In 1427 the shearmen are commanded to organise
themselves under two wardens, who are to inspect the
quality of the work and report to the mayor.^' The
existence of turbulent organisations of journeymen is
indicated in the regulations for the weavers' craft in
1432,^ which are designed to put an end to ' many and
dyverse unlittyng contestes and debates . . . which have
long tyme regned in the Crafte of Englisshe wevers of
Norhampton bitwene the Maistirs and the jorneymen
of the seide crafte.' The ordinances of 1432 refer
to old-estabhshed customs such as the Easter proces-
sion to St. Mary de la Pre outside the town, and the
' customable drinking ' that followed the offering of
wax tapers there, and further illustrate the cleavage
within the craft by the prohibition of ' confederacyes,
conventicles and gederyngs.' Supplementary regula-
tions of the weavers' craft were passed in 1439, 1441,
1448*' and 1462, when a six years' apprenticesliip
was provided for, and a supervision of the hcensing of
new weavers by the warden of the craft, acting with
two of the Twenty Four comburgesses.^' In 151 1
the inspection of cloths by the ' searchers ' was further
regulated." The formation of the Tailors' Craft Gild
in 1444-5 '5 of great interest : the industry was so
important to the town as a whole that the town
government took the initiative and compelled the
tailors to accept a constitution. ' Full many gentil-
men and other people of oure lorde the Kynge for
the shapyng of theire clothyng and of their servauntcs
and of theire lyvcreys daylycomen to the same town.
Ncverthcles noo Rule ne order put nc is in the said
Crafte bctwene thartificers and mynystres of the
scido Crafte. . . . Wherefore the seide gentilmen . . .
oft tymes for unhable shapyng . . . aren . . . dis-
seived to her prejudice and also sclaunder and detri-
ment I.O the saide toun. And therefore the saide
Maire and his Comburgeis by the comyn Assent of
the seide toun wyllen in the saide Crafte ordynaunce
and good Rule be putt.'^^ By this constitution
overseers were set up, with power to correct and to
call meetings of the craft. The town assembly con-
firmed the regulations for tailors and woollen drapers
jointly in 1588.^' In 1452 the fullers' cr.ift was
organised on similar Unes,*" further regulations being
added in 1464, 15 1 1 and 1585.'! In hke manner,
constitutions or regulations were made for the cor-
visers and cordwainers in 1401 and 1452,*^ the shoe-
makers in 1552,** the glovers in 1594;** the whit-
tawyers and tanners in 1566 and 1582;** the bakers in
1467, 1518, 1545 and 1553;^ the butchers in 1505,'
1558, and 1568;*' the fishmongers in 1467 and
1574;*^ the innkeepers in 1383, 1568 and 1570;**
the brewers in 1545,'" the carpenters in 1430;"-
the slaters in 1509 ;''^ whilst in 1562 the ironmongers'
constitution was cancelled.'^ All these regulations are
duly enrolled in the Liher Custumarum or, after 1553,
the Assembly Books. In 1574 a number of unorganised
trades — mercers, haberdashers, linendrapers, grocers,
apothecaries, upholsterers, salters and tryers of honey
and wax — were ordered to meet at St. Katharine's
Hall in the last week of October and choose themselves
wardens, with various other regulations to bring them
into line with the other tradesmen.'* In all these
constitutions, drafted by the mayor and the craftsmen
jointly, the craftsmen elect their own wardens or
searchers, who are sworn in before the mayor at the
guildhall on the court day.'* Regular fees are pay-
able to the town chamber and fines for breaches of
the regulations are divided between the craft and the
town. Many of the crafts with constitutions used
to meet, as we have seen, in the hall over the great
Conduit in the m.irket place. The fullers and slaters
used to meet at the Black Friars' House,'* the shear-
men and the shoemakers at the White Friars." After
the Dissolution the shoemakers used to meet in
St. George's Hall.'*
Some indication of the comparative importance of
different trades in the town is given by the lists of
town bailiffs between 1386 and 1461," in which in
many instances, their crafts are named. Nineteen
bailiffs were mercers, eleven drapers, eight dyers,
six fullers, six hosiers, two weavers, and two woolmen.
There were eight bakers and six fishmongers ; five
glovers and five ironmongers. Other evidence sug-
gests that Northampton continued to be of some
importance as a clothing centre. There are frequent
references to the fullers and their tenters in the Assem-
bly Books from 1550 to 1630.** The Privy Council
notes in 1577 that merchants of Norwich, London and
Northampton are in the liabit of buying and selling
wool at Northampton, driving up the price, to the
•• Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.), 98, fo. 162
(d. 27).
" Hiitory Teacbtri' Miuellany, v, 31.
•' E.g. : purchaic of a ttall (d. 3, 11),
freeman'i iharc in bargain! (cl. 4), forc-
italling and regrating (cl. 5, 7, 9, 16, 21),
wcighli and mcaiurci (cl. 6, 13), tale of
woad (cl. 31, 39).
•• Cuitumal cl. 27.
•• BoTO. Rec. i, 356-8.
»• Ibid. 268-72.
•• Ibid. 272-4. " Ibid. 298-9.
" Ibid. 331.
•' Ibid. 265 J cf. 278-82.
" Ibid, ii, 295. •» Ibid, i, 290-4.
" Ibid. 302, 332; ii, 288.
" Ibid. 245, 294.
•■ Ibid, ii, 293.
•' Ibid. 2S9. " Ibid. 295-7.
"Ibid, i, 309, 333, 380; ii, 278.
" Ibid. 334; ii, 280.
•• Ibid. 307 ; ii, 286.
" Ibid. 249 ; ii, 295-7.
"> Ibid. 352.
28
" Ibid. 237.
" Ibid. 329. " Ibid, ii, 290.
'* Ibid. 276-8.
" The oaths of the w.irdcns and scarch-
cri of the crafts arc enrolled in the Liber
Ciistumaruni, Uoro, lice, i, 394-397,
including one for the chandlers, whose
constitution is not enrolled.
'• Boto. Rcc. i, 291, 330.
" Ibid, i, 356; ii, 183.
'•Ibid, ii, 181-5.
'• Ibid. 556-8. •« Ibid. 217-8.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
great decay of clothing in the shire.'* The enrolments
of apprentices on the town records show the tailors
as the most popular industry in the i6th and early
17th centuries, and the clothing trades running the
leather trades close for the fust place in the town.
There is a marked revival in weaving in the second half
of the 1 8th century, and though the shoemaking
trade is by now weU ahead, the poll books of the
elections of 1768, 1784 and 1790 show a large number
of woolcombers and weavers. ' A century ago,' says
James, writing in 1857, ' the woolstaplers of North-
ampton were the local magnates, the weavers of serges,
tammies and shallons more numerous than the shoe-
makers of the present day.'*^ In 1768 the weavers
seem to have congregated about the Mayorhold and
St. Giles', and the woolcombers in Bridge Street and
the south quarter in general, where it may be pre-
sumed the fullers would also be found, from the
proximity of the Cow Meadow, where their tenters
stood in the l6th and 17th centuries.'*
The apprenticeship statistics cannot be regarded as
exhaustive, but they give some indication of the pro-
portion in which the different industries were pursued
in Northampton in the 17th and 1 8th centuries, and
of the extent to which the town population was
recruited from the country.** Of the great advance
of the shoemaking industry in this period an account
has been given in the previous volume.** In 1619 the
complaint of the nuisances caused by tanners, glovers,
whittawyers and parchment makers washing their
hides in the river and the watercourses of the Cow
Meadow** suggests that the leather trade was active,
but the glovers were still, apparently, as important
as the shoemakers. By 1662, however, Fuller could
say ' This town stands on other men's legs,' *' and
in 1689 the shoemakers of Northampton, petitioning
against a bill for the free transport of unwrought
leather overseas, asserted, ' A very considerable part
of the trade of this town has consisted, time out of
mind, in the manufacture of boots and shoes, great
quantities of which have been sent abroad.' ** The
colonial and military demand for Northampton boots
and shoes is thus of old standing, and war, from 164.2
onwards, has been a marked stimulant to the industry.
In 1794. the town was producing from 10,000 to 12,000
pairs a week, as against 7,000 to 8,000 in time of peace,*'
and its achievements in the war of 1914-18 were in
accordance with previous traditions. During the
four years of the war Northampton supplied the
Allied forces with 23 million pairs, Northamptonshire
contributing another 24 million, as against 23 million
from the rest of the country.'*' These included
infantry boots for the French, Serbian, Italian,
Roumanian and American forces, Russian Cossack
boots, Canadian knee boots, ski boots, rope-soled
boots for the Tank corps, submarine deck boots,
Flying corps boots, highland shoes, mosquito boots,
seamen's shoes, and liospiial slippers, as well as the
standard B.5. British infantry boot.**- When the
period of Army requisitioning ended, however, the
Northants Journal of Commerce observed that the army
boot was a far heavier product than Northampton
manufacturers and Northampton operatives cared
to handle, as they preferred a higher grade boot.*^
In the 17th and l8th centuries Northampton was
noted as a centre for the purchase of horses. Baskervill
refers to the horse fairs in 1673,** and Morton in 1712
says that Northampton is famed for the best horses
in England.** The Earl of Moray writes of a friend
in 1683 : ' He is busy getting horses : he is resolved
to have them good or not at all, and if he get them
not here (in London) he will go down to Northampton,
where the best are.' ** The horse fairs were still well
attended in 1815. They are now held in the cattle
market on the Saturday nearest to June 24.
The mills of Northampton, tliough not mentioned
in Domesday Book, have a long history. Conches
melne or the mill of Conge" is mentioned before
1 135, and its tithe was granted to St. Andrew's Priory
by Grimbold.** In 1274 there were two mills of that
name ■} in 1539, if we may identify the Quengions
mills of the Court of Augmentations with the
Congenes mill of 1320,2 there were five, two being
used for grinding ' meselyn corn,' one a ' colyn '
mill for grinding wheat, and the other two being
fulling mills.* Marvells mill is apparently identical
v/ith the Merewyns mill of 1253,* the Merthensmylne
of the Hundred Rolls* and the Mervyns mylne
of the Valor Ecclesiasticus.' It also was held by St.
Andrew's,' like St. Andrew's mill north-west of the
town and RushmiU* to the south-east. A postern in
the town wall and a causeway seven feet wide led to
it.* After the Dissolution it was acquired by the
town, and a windmill was erected alongside of the
water mills.*' The mills having been leased to a
succession of tenants,** were employed about 1740 for
a new venture in cotton-spinning, financed by Edward
Cave, the founder and editor of the Gentleman's
Magazine and one of the original patrons of the
Northampton infirmary. The carding and roller-
spinning machinery invented by Lewis Paul,*^ which
anticipated Cartwright's inventions, was set up in
" Acts of the Privy Council 1577-8,
PP- 2+-5-
" Quarterly Rtvieu, Jan. 1857, p. 30.
" Boro. Rcc. ii, 217-8 ; Speed's Map of
1610.
•* Compare evidence of regitters of
St. Gilei, in R. M. Serjeantjon, Hist,
of Cb. of St. Giles, Nortbampt. p.
210-11.
•» r.C.H. Nmbants. ii, 317 fF.
" Boro. Rec. ii, 217.
" Morton in 1712 (p. 23) and Lytoni
in 1724 fiii, 513), confinn Fuller's account
ef the importance of the hosiery trade,
which is not reflected in the apprentice-
ship sutistics.
•• Hitl. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, app. 6,
p. 115. The petition is signed by four-
teen shoemakers.
'» J. Donaldjon, A I'ievi of the State of
Agriculture of the County of Northampt.
'" W. H. Holloway, Northampt. and
the Gieat IV ar, p. 205.
•' rbid. pp. 207-8.
" Northants. Journal of Commerce, May
1919, p. 8.
•' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vol. 51, p. 290.
" Nat. Hist, of Northants. p. 23.
•' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vol. 100, p. 164,
cf. vol. 117, p. 550.
•• History of Northampt. (by John Cole).
publ. by Birdsall, Northampt. 1815, p. 49.
•' Northampt. Corp. Deeds, C. 14.
•• MS. Vesp. E. xvii, fo. 18.
' Rot. Huni. ii, i.
• Assize R. 635, m. 63 d.
" L. and P. Hen. Fill, vol xv, p. 563.
Of the two Quengions Mills one was a
29
fulling mill and the other a gygg mill.
(Inf. from Mr. Beeby Thompson.)
'Assize R. 61;, m. 14. A Mervln
was grandfather of a donor to St. I^eonard's
Hospital, whose gift is dated 1190-4 by
R. M. Serjcantson. Lefer Hospitals of
Northampton, p. 4.
» Rot. Hund. ii, 3.
• Dugdalc, Mon. v, 193.
' Rot. Fin. 15 Edw. ITT, m. 23.
• Ibid. ; also Assize R. 1187, m. 14 d.
• Rot. Hund. ii, 3 ; Assize R. 615, m. 14.
This causeway was uncovered in 1889, in
course of excavations at the gas works.
" Boro. Rec. ii, 291. " Ibid. 292.
" See appendix to G. J. French,
Life of Crompton, which shows that Wyatt
was not, as stated in the previous
volume, the inventor.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
them under the management of T. Wyatt, as described
in the previous volume/^ and for a while Marvell's
Mills were known as the Cotton Mills. The venture
failed, for lack of capital as much as of good manage-
ment. The Nuns' mills to the south-east of the town
were held by Delapre Abbey .1* After the shoemaking
and leather curr^nng industry, the town is to-day noted
for its flour mills, as well as its makings and breweries.
There are also iron-foundries of some importance.
The Northampton Chamber of Commerce was
founded in 1917, and its organ, The Northants Journal
of Commerce, began to appear in January 1919,
announcing as its aim ' to extend the fame of our
members' productions in every market throughout the
world.' ^
The parts of the town that have
DESCRIPTION been longest inhabited are round
the castle site and the churches
of St. Peter and the Holy Sepulchre. The convergence
of streets on the Mayorhold,^' together with the name
Newland and the reference to the waste open space
by All Saints' Church in 1235 suggest that the oldest
town lay entirely to the west of the road from London
to Leicester. Dr. Cox beUeved that the wall built
by Simon de Senhs I (1090-1111) ran south of St.
Andrew's Priory and west of St. Giles' Church, and
that the tower which was still standing not far from
the Derngate in Lee's time was a survival from the
Norman wall, whilst the line of wall shown on Speed's
map in 1610 is assigned by him to about 1301.^'
Grants of murage were made to the town in 1224,'*
1251,1* and 1301,2*' the last on so large a scale as to
suggest rebuilding rather than repairing. On the
other hand, the action of the prior of St. Andrew's in
1264^1 seems to prove that the priory was then inside
the town wall. Further repairs of the wall were
authorised in 1378,^ 1400,2^ and 1549.^ The wall
ran north and east of the town ; to the west and south
the river and the castle fortifications formed adequate
defences. The hne of the later wall and ditch is still
clearly traceable from its north-west corner on the
river, along the south side of St. George's Street
(North Gate), Campbell Street, the Upper and Lower
Mounts (East Gale), York Road, Cheyne Walk (Dcrn
Gate), Cattle Market Road (South Gate), Weston
Street, across the gas works (Marvell's mill postcrn)^^
and so up to the West Gate near the castle, on Black
Lion Hill. There was also a postern between the East
Gate and the Dern Gate, near St. Giles' Churchyard,^*
and another called the Cow Gate,*' leading from Cow
Lane (now Swan Street) into Cow Meadow. The
four main gates stood where the Market Harborough,
Kettering, London and Daventry roads entered the
town.
The gates,^ and the East Gate in particular,^' are
mentioned in John's reign. Those mentioned by Lee
in the 17th century appear from his description to
have been built in the 14th century, the East Gate
being very handsome and adorned with coats of arms ;
the other three main gates being then used as tene-
ments for the poor.^ Sir Thomas Tresham describes
the guard kept at the South Gate, with partisans and
halberds, on the morning of Lady Day 1603, when he
came to the town with the news of Queen Ehzabeth's
death.^i The wall, or a part of it, between the East
and North Gates, is described in an inquisition ad
quod damnum of 1278. It was then crenellated and
much used for walking purposes, by sick burgesses
when they vrished to take the air, by all who wanted
to take short cuts to avoid the muddy lane below in
winter, and by the night watchmen who spied through
the battlements upon malefactors as they came in
and out of the town.^^ The sheriff notes that the
opposition to blocking up the battlements and the
wall-walk was so strong in the town that he chose the
jury from outside the borough, from Billing, Bough-
ton, Mouhon, Weston and Overstone, but their verdict
was as emphatic as the townsmen could wish, and
nothing was done. The walls, which had been al-
lowed to fall into a bad condition in the i6th century,
were repaired by the strenuous labours of the towns-
men in 1642-3 ;'* and they were destroyed by royal
order in 1662.** A drawing in the British Museum
by a foreign artist shows them as they were in 1650,
when there was, apparently, no wall between the East
Gate and Marvell's Mill postern.^ The town ditch,
mentioned in the inquests of 1274-5^* and the town
terrier of 1586,*' survived the walls for a good while ;
part of it, near St. Andrew's Mills, was still visible in
1849,^ whilst the section north of the Cow Meadow
had only recently been filled in.^
If the earliest centre of the town was indeed, as
the evidence indicates, the Mayorhold, it was probably
the building of the castle** which caused the centre
of gravity to shift eastwards. From the 13th century
the modern market square is the commercial and
civic heart of the town ; and a scries of deeds dealing
with the transfer of house properly, shops and stalls
suggest the growth of a thriving eastern quarter.
Early in the 14th century, however, complaints are
heard of the ' decay ' of the town. The petition of
1334 speaks of houses fallen to the ground, and rents
thus lost ;** an ordinance of about 1 390-1400 pro-
vides for the letting out by the mayor and chamber-
lains of certain waste places from which no returns
or profits have accrued for some lime past.** In 1484
Richard III, in remitting fifty marks of the fee farm,
accepts the mayor's account of the town as in great
'• y.C./f. Northanli. ii, 334-5.
" Another mill wai later known ai the
Clack Mill, and later (till at Mulliner'i
Mill. Norihanii. Nat Iliit Sor. xv, 247-9.
*• Nortbantt. Journal of Commerce^ no.!.
" Kingiwell Street led directly from the
South hridge to the Mayorhold.
" Boro, lite, ii, 515, and lee map at end,
which, however, repreirnti the wall at
continued along the river between St.
Andrew'i and the cattle.
" Pal. R. 'I Hen. HI, pi. 2, m. 8.
'• Ibid. 36 lien. Ill, m. 11.
•• Ibid. 29 F.dw. I, m. 6.
■* Sec above, p. 3.
•• Pal. a. I Ric. II, pt. i. m. 31.
" Ibid. 2 Hen. IV, pt. i, m. 40.
** Acts of Prhy Council, 1547-50, p.
391. For later repairs ordered by the town
aitembly, tee Poro. Rrc. ii, 428 ff.
" Pol. {fund, ii, 3.
" I'otjibly the ' foUcrna de Lurlcborn'
of Rol. Ilund. ii, 3.
" Rol. Ilund. ii, 3.
" Mem. Wall, de Cotentria (RoUl Ser.),
ii, 219.
" Chart. R. 2 John, m. 4.
" I.ee, Coll. p. 91.
" //«/. MSS. Com. Rep. vol. 103, pp.
117-123.
'* Inq. a.q.d. 6 Edw. I, file iv, no. 21.
" See above, p. 12.
30
" Lee, Coll. p. 112.
" Add. MS. 11564 fo. 49. It is possible
th.Tt this part of the town defences never
had more than a ditch ; but the existence
of the west gate and the south-west postern
seems to imply a wall here.
'* Rol. Ilund. ii, 3.
"' Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press C.
107 ; Poro. Rec. ii, 155.
" ("1. N. Wetton, Guidebook 10 Norlb-
ampl. and tis Vutnily (1849), p. 29.
•» Ibid. p. 62.
'" R. M. Scrjeantion, Hist, of the Cb.
of Si. (hies, Norlhampt. p. 15.
•• Pari. R. ii, 85.
*■ Boro. Rec. i, 251.
^:
i.^Cfnt-Jjy
.o^vJ?" ''■
■.■■a— n"T"' ■ '»"'•>■ ,
' ^mted b^ FKi'pt^ frvnaOiu^tttif ty
* utaimpan^ tiu ^ojuiU^ <<j!^land~i*^L/
Plan of Xorthamhton in iSio
[From Jehn Bnit^n, **■ Beautiei of Engla'ui and tVala")
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
desolation and ruin, half of it almost desolate and
destroyed.''* Conditions were presumably made
worse by the fire of 1 516, which, according to Henry
Lee, consumed the greatest part of the town.** In
1533, Leland noted that all the old houses in North-
ampton were built of stone, but the now houses of
wood. In 1535 an Act of Parliament empowered the
mayor and burgesses, in view of the great ruin and
decay of the town, to take into their hands any houses
which the tenants and landlords both failed to
repair, and rebuild them themselves. If the mayor
and burgesses failed to do so, anyone who pleased
might rebuild the houses and so acquire possession
of them and the land on which they stood.^*" Again,
in 1622, the mayor, in sending up to the Privy Council
the corporation's contribution to the fund in aid of
the palatinate, explained that the decay of the town
prevented the general contribution from being good.**
Some of these complaints may be common form ;
but the maps of Northampton before the fire of 1675
show large vacant spaces within the walls, especially
in the S.E. quarter of the town.*' There seems no
reason to doubt that houses fell into ruin and were
not rebuilt, and that the open spaces shown in Noble
and Buthn's map of 1746 represent some of the ' ruin
and desolation ' described in 1484. The terrier of
1586 describes a large number of closes and orchards
within the walls, and Northampton was long after
that date noted for its cherries.
The returns of 1274-5 suggest that one cause of
this ' decay ' may have been the exodus of burghers
who settled outside the borough boundaries to escape
the burden of tallages and the like. From an early
date there are references to houses in the suburbs,
outside the walls,** though the Portsoken of the
Il8g charter is probably a clerical error. To the
north and east, where the town fields extended to the
parishes of Kingsthorpe, Abington and Weston,
there were houses outside the North Gate along the
Market Harborough road round the churches of St.
Bartholomew and St. Lawrence ;*' whilst outside the
east gate St. Edmund's End grew up round St.
Edmund's church,*" and Gobion's homestead is
described as l)Tng in the suburb in John's reign,"
though it rendered an annual rent to the preposiiuram
vilU.^ South of the town, between the walls and
the river, grew up the south quarter, still containing
many waste places in 1430 which the mayor and cham-
berlain leased to sixteen different tenants in that
year.** Here later was the important house of the
Fermors or Farmers. Besides these suburbs, within
the liberties but outside the wall, there were from a
very early date important suburbs outside the
liberties. Round the abbey of St. James,^ founded
about HOC on the west side of the river, grew up St.
James' End, in the parishes of Duston and DalUngton.
The earliest reference to the name that has been
traced is in 1 358,** but a 13th century cartulary of
the abbey which mentions various streets by name
shows that it was then of considerable extent.*'
South of the river, in Hardingstone parish, Cotton
End" or St. Leonard's End, grew up along the London
road round St. Leonard's Hospital and chapel.** In
1618, by the charter of James I to the town, St. James'
End, Cotton End and West Cotton were included
within the liberties, but this extension seems only to
ha\e lasted a few years, and these suburbs passed back
to the county until 1901.**
On 20 September, 1675, a fire broke out in St.
l\'Iary's Street, near the castle, which, driven by a
strong west wind across to St. Giles' Street and Dern-
gate, destroyed more than half the town in 24 hours.
Corn ricks and makings in the Horsemarket, thatched
roofs and wooden houses everywhere, oil and tallow
in College Lane and timber stacked in the market
place for building the new County Sessions House, all
fed the blaze. The 15th century market cross, the
great part of All Saints' Church with the town records
stored in it, and some 600 houses were destroyed.
The town hall escaped, though the staircase in front
of it was burnt, but most of the buildings round the
market square perished. Only one house in the
Drapery survived, and Dr. Danvers' house on Market
Hill, which, like the Hesilrige Mansion in Marefair,
now the Ladies' Club, is still standing.*" The trades-
men of the town had just restocked their shops at
Stourbridge Fair, and the general loss of property
was estimated at ^150,000. In this emergency both
town and county acted with promptitude. The
town Recorder, the Earl of Northampton, sent in
supplies at once ; a meeting at the town hall ' princi-
pally managed by him,' led to the opening of a sub-
scription list and the setting up of a committee ; and
by his help an .^ct was got through Parhament before
the close of the session for the rebuilding of the town.
By this Act*^ a special court of record was constituted
to sit at the guildhall and determine all disputes
between neighbours, landlords, tenants and occupiers
as to boundaries and titles, with power to alter the
lay-out of the town if it should seem necessary, and
«> BoTo. Rec. i, 9S.
«• Lee, CoU. p. 93.
" Stat. 27 Heniy VIII, cap. i.
«• Cal. S. P. Dom. 1619-23, p. 397.
*' See especially the map of 1633 show-
ing the property once St. .Andrew's, a
copy of which is in the Public Library,
Northampt.
•• Feet of F. Hen. III. 172/17, 19, 22,
"Anct D. (P.R.O.) C. 5147-
"Ibid. B. 2473.
" Feet of F. i John, no. 2.
•» Cat. Inq. ii, 78.
•• Northampt. Corp. Deeds, Press C. 48.
" V.C.H. Nortbanu. ii, 127-30.
•• Cal. Pal. 1358-61, p. 36. {In suburbio
it Northampton vocato U Siint James-
tni.)
•' Cott. MS. Brit. Mus. Tib. E v, fo. 16
(e.g. Harper Street, St. James' Street).
•' Northampt. Corp. Deeds, C. iq, 28,
show burgesses holding land in Cotes
and Coten Without.
" V.C.H. Norlbanis. ii, 159-60.
" For charter (original at Northampton)
KcRoro.Rec. i, 126-7. Borough constables
were appointed for Cotton End and St.
James' End in 1618 and 1619, and no
later. (Ibid, ii, 140). The county magis-
trates had jurisdiction in Cotton End in
1630. Quarter Sessions Records of Co. of
Northampt. i, 9, 60. For St. James' End
(1657) see p. 214. No explanation of
this cancellation of the grant has been
found. Possibly it is to be associated with
the disgrace (1620-21) of Sir Henry
Yelverton, Attorney-General and Re-
corder of the town, at whose instance
James says the charter was granted. The
chief charge against 'Velverton was that he
bad inserted clauses in the charter to the
31
city of London which the King had not
authorised. The record of his trial before
the Star Chamber throws no light on the
Northampton charter (Star Chamber
Proc. J. I. Bdle. 30, File 5). I owe this
reference to the kindness of Miss W. Taff s.
It should also be noted that the Privy
Council memorandum of new clauses
in the charter granted to the town
of Northampton (Letters and Papers
Domestic, James I, vol. civ, no. 83)
contains no reference to St. James' End
or Cotton. It is possible that the
fate of London's attempt to increase
her liberties surreptitiously caused
Northampton to drop her acquisitions
quietly.
" There arc also groined arches remain-
ing in the cellars of some houses in College
Street.
" 27 Chat. IL
flit.
Plan of NoKTiiAMrroN Castle
[Riproiucti by permiiiion of the execuion oj ibe hie Rev. R. M. Sfrjeantion)
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
to prescribe rules for rebuilding and enforce obedience
to them. The records of tliis court arc preserved at
Northampton and form a substantial volume. 'They
extend from April 1676 to October 1685, and
deal with 79 cases." Briefs and pamphlets'^ brouglit
in generous contributions from all over Kngland,
from individuals, beginning with the King, from
towns and from the two universities, amountins;
in all to ^25,000, and the subscription list drawn
up by Henry Lee the town clerk is still to be
seen in All Saints' Church.*' No great alterations
were made in the town plan ; the definite recommen-
dations of the Act for widening the approaches to the
market square, the narrowness of which had much
increased the loss of property, were for the most part
not followed, though .Ml Saints' Church was shortened
by the length of its nave and more space was thus
secured in the south-west corner. Eighteenth cen-
tury taste entirely appro\ed the style of the rebuilding:
Northampton, ' nobl) re-edified after the fire, is now
universally owned to be one of the neatest towns in
the kingdom,'** but it was admitted that the town
arose ' though much more beautiful, less spacious.'*"
The great increase in the size of the town began in
the second half of the i8th century. The population
rose from 5,136 in 174.6*' to 7,020 in 1801, 15,351
in 1831, 32,813 in 1861, 87,021 in 1901 and 90,923
in 1921. The increase between 1801 and 1831, which
is well above the average increase over all England,
is attributable to the stimulus given to the boot trade
by the Napoleonic wars. The number of houses
increased from 2,086 in 1821 to 3,239 in 1831.** The
main growth of the town in the 19th and 20th cen-
turies has been to the north-east, in the direction of
Kingsthorpe, Kingsley and Abington. There has
«lso been a considerable extension to the west and
south, and a recent survey of the town*' with a view
to its future development advocates the formation of
a garden city suburb on the rising ground south of
the river, round the site of Dclapre Abbey. The
second Reform Act added parts of Dallington, Duston,
Hardingstone and Kingsthorpe to the Parliamentary
borough, but the municipal boundaries remained
unchanged till 1901, when they were extended so as
to include half Kingsthorpe, the whole of St. J.imes'
End and Far Cotton, with the exception of some
small agricultural areas, and a large part of Abington,
the area of the borough being thus enlarged from
131 1 to 3,392 acres.'"
In the early middle ages the borough was, like
Leicester, divided into four quarters, named after the
four points of the compass. These are mentioned in
the rolls of the eyre of 1253." To these a fifth, the
Chequer Ward, round the market place, was added.
Dr. Cox thought about 1300.''^ These five wards,
supplemented for a few years by those of St. James
and Cotton End'* in 1618, lasted down to 1835.
Under the Municipal Corporations Act of that year
the town was divided into three wards ; the South
\\'ard, south of Gold Street, St. Giles' Street and
Billing Road; the East Ward, c.Tst of the Drapery,
Sheep Street and the Kingsthorpe Road, and the
West Ward, west of the same line.'* Each ward was
represented by six councillors on the borough council.
With the increase in the population, the East and West
Wards outstripped the South Ward, originally the
most populous, and in 1897 the East Ward contained
6,898 \oters, the West 2,325, and the South 1,380.
In 1898, by an order of the Local Government Board,
the town was divided into six nearly equal wards :
the Castle Ward, the North Ward, St. Crispin's,
St. Edmund's, St. Michael's and the South \^'ard.
Further, after a two days' inquiry at Northampton
Town Hall at the beginning of 1900, the Local
Government Board approved a scheme for the
enlargement of the municipal borough which was
embodied in an Act passed on 30 July, 1900.'^ This
Act" added to the six wards formed in l8q8 tlie three
new wards of Far Cotton, Kingsthorpe and St. James,
each, like the six old wards, returning three councillors
and one alderman. In 191 2, under the Northampton
Corporation Act," the borough was divided into
twelve wards, of which Castle and St. James' Wards
were unchanged from those of 1 90 1. The name of
Far Cotton Ward was changed to Delapre Ward.
Part of St, Edmund's Ward was added to South
Ward. Three new wards were added : Kingsley,
carved partly out of the old Kingsthorpe and St.
Edmund's Wards ; Abington, out of the old St.
Edmund's and St. Michael's Wards ; St. Lawrence's,
out of the old Kingsthorpe, North and St. Crispin's
Wards. These twelve wards each return three
councillors and one alderman.'*
Corresponding changes took place in the civil
parishes of the town in 1902 as a result of the enlarge-
ment of the borough. In 1909 the four civil parishes
of All Saints, St. Giles, St. Peter and St. Sepulchre
were consolidated and formed into the civil parish
of Northampton." In 1914 the civil parishes of
Kingsthorpe, Duston St. James and the parts of
Dallington and Abington within the municipal
boundary were added to the civil parish of Northamp-
ton
80
The CASTLE OF NORTHAMPTON, hke most
royal castles, was outside the borough liberties. Ori-
ginally built by earl Simon I, from the time that it
" Northampt. Corp. Book), Press \, 2a.
Inrolmenti of decrees of Court of Judica-
ture appointed 1675.
" The State of Northampton from tbt
beginning 0/ tbi Fire . . . to Nofember ^ . . .
ntKB recommended to all uiell-diipoted persons
in order to Christian charity and speedy
relief for the said distressed people, hy a
Country minister. London, 1675, Nov. 22.
Reprinted in Hartshomc, Mem. of North-
ampt. pp. 224-257. Sad and LamentabU
metes from Northampton, 1675. The ac-
count given above is based upon these and
Henry Lee's narratives.
** Printed Bar's. Rec. ii, 250-1.
" Morton, Natural History of North-
ants. (1712), p. 23. See also Pennant,
Jouyney from Chester to London (1782), p.
307 : ' Much of the beauty i)f the town is
due to the fire of 1675 ' ; and Baskcrvillc :
' Phtrni-x like risen out of her ashes in a
far more noble and beauteous form.'
Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. >;iii, app. 2, p
2S9.
"Notes to Noble and Butlin's m.ip
of I74fi.
" Pari. Papers, 1826-27, vol. iii, p. 63.
"Pari. Papers, 1835, vol. xxv, p.
1965.
'■■' County Borough of Northampt. Prc-
pcsult for Development and Reconstruction.
Published by authority of the County
Borough of Northampt. 1925.
'" 63 and 64 Vict. c. clxxxiii.
33
" .\ssize R. 615, m. 14.
''- lioro. Rec. ii, 517.
" Ibid. II, 140.'
" Xorthamp. Corp. Rec. Misc Docts.
45/>-
'* Northampt. Mercury, 9 November
1900.
" L. G. B. Provisional Orders Con-
firmation (No. 14) Act, 63 and 64 Vict,
c. dx.xxiil. (Public .Act of a local cha-
racter.)
" I and 2 Georgii V, c. Ixiv (Local
Act).
" Information from Mr. H. Hankinson.
Town Clerk.
'" I . G. n. Order, No. 53404.
"» Ibid. No. P. 1623.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
became the king's" it served the purposes of royal
residence and stronghold and county government office
and prison. The jurors of 1274-5 ^^'^ that it 'belonged
to the county,'*^ and an inquest of 1 329 found that
its constableship was by old custom appurtenant to
the county and jurisdiction of the sheriff.*^ The uses
to which the castle was put are illustrated by the fact
that this inquest was held in the castle hall which the
sheriff had been commanded to be prepared for the
sessions of the justices in eyre, who sat from November
1329 to May 1330,** the mayor having been ordered
to oversee these preparations.** In the same eyre the
mayor protested on behalf of the town against the
burgesses being forced to plead outside the liberties,
but was unable to obtain a special sessions for the
borough like that of 1285.^ The castle was still
outside the jurisdiction of the borough in 1655. A
Duston Utigant in that year writes, ' I deUvered writs
to the undersheriff to arrest G. and the rest. ... He
said Northampton was a pri\-ileged place and he
durst not serve them. They durst not come down
to the castle at Easter sessions last, for they had
been out of their liberty and had been arrested.'*'
When the castle was dismantled in 1662, Charles II
directed that as much should remain as was necessary
for the shelter of the justices of the Bench,** and
Henry Lee could remember the judge of Nisi Prius
sitting at the castle with his back against the west wall
of the Chapel of St. George.** The county magis-
trates sat there for quarter sessions down to the
Epiphany term, 1671,'** after which they sat in the
town, presumably in the temporary building erected
for the use of the Judges on Assize.*t From 1670 to
1675 the town and county authorities were wrangling
as to whether the new sessions house should be built
in the town or on the castle site.*^ .4ftcr the fire,
however, it was mutually agreed that the county
sessions house should be built in the town ' as an
encouragement to rebuilding,''* and the castle ruins
ceased to have any connection with the government of
the county.
The greater part of the site of the castle was levelled
in 1880 for the erection of the London and North-
Western Railway Company's station and goods shed,
and the records of what formerly existed are so frag-
mentary tliat it is difficult to reconstruct the original
form of the castle. It seems to have been of the ' motte '
and bailey type, common to the more important castles
of the time.** The ' motte,' upon which stood the
keep, surrounded by a moat, was apparently on the
north-east side of the bailey where a flat-topped
conical mound called Castle Hill was still a play-
ground for children in the middle of the 19th century.
This mound, under which a skeleton was found in
1827,*^ was approximately bounded by Chalk Lane,
Castle Street, Phoenix Street and Castle Hill. The
bailey, which was fortified by a rampart and ditch,
was roughly circular in shape and covered about 3J
acres. It is now traversed by St. Andrew's Road, and
a little to the east of the point where this road would
cross the southern part of the moat was the southern
entrance to the bailey, and at the spot where it
would cross the northern part of the moat was the
northern or principal entrance. The jamb of the
gateway here was discovered in 1883. Outside this
entrance were some earthworks, which it is thought
covered the approach to the gate ; they may, however,
have been thrown up for siege purposes. The position
of the curtain wall of the bailey is known on the south
and west sides, and photographs exist of the wall and
of a bastion on the south side. On the west side of
St. Andrew's Road remains of buildings have been
from time to time discovered together with four
wells, and remains of the moat still exist at the north-
east of the bailey in the garden of St Peter's Rectory,
off Fitzroy Street.** Building accounts of the 12th
century refer to repairs to the tower or keep {turrtj)
as well as to houses in the castle {castellum)P The
survey of 1323, moreover, refers to 'an old tower
called Fawkestour,' wliich seems to have been at that
date outside the curtain wall.** It does not appear to
have formed part of the later fortifications, being
ignored in Speed's map, and in the military drawing
of 1650,** but it is shown in the plan in the Gt'ntleman's
Magazine for 1800,* which is of value as giving a cross-
section from north to south of the bailey and the
triple rampart guarding the northern entrance. It
was finally levelled between 1827 and 1832, the earth
from it being used to fill in the moat.*
The first Norman buildings may well have been of
wood, since it would take time for the earthworks to
become settled. Fxcavations in 1863 revealed, amongst
later remains, a Norman chamber with a groined roof
and a central column, which may have belonged to
the castle of the time of Henry II.' The accounts
of Becket's interviews with the King in 1164 mention
a castle gateway, through which the archbishop
rode ; a hall ; an inner chamber ; an upper chamber
where the King received the bishops wlio tried to
mediate between Becket and himself ; and a chapel.*
From the time of Henry II onwards there are constant
references on the Pipe Rolls, Close Rolls and Liberate
Rolls to constructions and repairs at Northampton
Castle.* The masonry uncovered in 1863 belonged
mainly to the 13th and 14th centuries, and the
records indicate the greatest building activity under
Henry III, with extensive repairs under Eduird Hand
Fdward III. There is specific reference to the King's
•' Before 1130 ; ice Pipe R. 31 Hen. I.
'' Rot. llund. ii, I : periinct comiiatui.
•' Fine R. 3 Ed. Ill, m. 4.
•• Cloic R. 3 Ed. Ill, m. 9 ; 4 Ed. Ill,
m. 3zd.
" Cat. Pal. 1327-30, p. 441.
'• See above, p. 10, .ind hclow, p. 36.
•' Hill. MSS. Com. Rep. zii, app. 3,
p. 344.
•• S. P. Dom. Charlei II, Entry Book I,
fo. 62. " I-ee, Coll. p. 98.
•• See Record! of Quarter Se«iioni,
• t County Hall, Northampt. I owe thl»
iolormation to the tcindneit of Mill Joan
Walw.
'" Boro. Rrc. ii, 148. Note .ilso Henry
I.ee'i itatement, that in 1670 the sessions
houie was removed from the caitle to the
Market Croii (Lee, Coll. p. 118).
" R. M. Serjeantion, The Casile 0
Norihampl. reprinted from Xorlhnnls. A'a/.
Hill. Soc. and Field Cl:th, xiv, pp. 49-52.
•• Ibid. p. 53.
•* Thii account it baled on Asioe. Arch.
Soc. Repls. XV, ii, 198-209; xvi, 63-70,
243 251, and notei by Dr. Cyril Fox,
National Muieum of \Valei.
" Alloc. Arch. Soc. Rcpii. xv, 2o8.
•• Ibid. XV, 205 ; xvi, 247.
" Pipe R. 20, 23, 28. 29 lien. H. Theic
34
have been interpreted .t» referring to the
tower in I.atinier'l Croft, ncir Derngato.
If thl« tower was a part of the town wall
there seems no reason for its appearance in
the iherifj'i accounts, and nothing in iti
later history supports this identification.
•' Chan. Misc. Inq. 16 Edw. II, 80/15.
"•Add. MS. 11564; reproduced in
Serjeantson, Caiile of Norihampl. p.
' Gem. Ma^. Ixx, 929.
• Alloc. Arch. Soc. Rrpis. xv, 208,
• Serjeantson, op. cit. p. 55.
• Gent. Ma^. i860, part i, 385-8.
•Serjeantson, op. cit. pp. 9, 11,
21.
»3-
">
XoRTH-WrpTON CaSTi.F. W'aLI. (nOW DEMOLISHED)
NoRTHANtl'TON : TlIK OlD ToUN HaLL
(^VflW an Old Dra'wing)
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
great chamber in the castle in 1235,' the King's
chapel in 1 244,' the building of the Queen's chapel
in 1247,* fitted with glass wndows in 1 248,' the
King's wardrobe, the great hall and the chaplain's
room in 1249,** the wall of the castle and the bailey
next the river in 1251,^ further alterations to the
chapel in the tower, and stained glass windows in
the hall in 1252 and 1253.** A survey of 1253 refers
to repairs already carried out on the great wall, but
says that it needs further repairs.*' In 1318 the great
hall, the lower chapel and two otiier larger chambers
were destroyed by fire. The sur\ey of the castle
in 1323, which reports this, mentions the ' new tower,'
six small towers in the circuit of the castle wall,
two stables, a new gate, two old gates, an old bar-
bican, the miinullum of the castle, the hall court, the
castle court and the g,\rdcn. The repairs said to be
necessary are estimated at 7^1,097 6s. 8(f.'* It does
not seem probable that they were ever carried out ;
but the great hall, as we have seen, was made fit for
the holding of the eyre of 1329-30, and the castle
continued to be used both for royal and shrieval
purposes. During the parliament of 1380, however,
the king stayed at Moulton, and not at the castle,'*
and St. Andrew's Priory was used for the sessions.'*
Repairs mentioned in 1347" and 1387'* suggest
that the castle was being used mainly as a county
gaol and sheriff's office — a checker house and a checker
board are named. When Leland saw the castle it still
had a large gate," but in 1593 Norden described it as
ruinous. It was probably repaired for the use of the
Parliamentary garrison, and the drawing of 1650
shows a wall round both the inner and the outer
bailey, and four turrets in the wall of the inner bailey.
Soon after the castle ceased, about 1671, to be used as
gaol and sessions house, the site which had been ori-
ginally sold by the crown in 1629*" was resold to
Robert Hesilrige, who acquired the adjoining strips
of land from the borough in 1680." A survey of the
property in 1743 shows that the outer bailey was then
known as the old orchard, and the inner bailey as the
young orchard, both being well planted with fruit
trees ; the moat was called the upper and nether
roundabout ; the northern rampart, called the Fort
in 1680, was known as the Castle Ground, and the
whole, including the Castle holme, came to 18 acres.
No traces existed, apparently of the wall of the outer
bailey. The castle ground was built over between 1863
and 1880 ; in 1 859 a small railway station was built
on part of the old orchard, and in 1876, for the purpose
of building the present Castle Station and goods
yard, the rest of the site was bought by the London and
North-Western Railway Company, and the remains
of the masonry, including a circular bastion on tlie
south, and a sohd fragment of the wall on the river
side, Norman at the core, reinforced with Edwardian
facing and buttresses, were destroyed. The course of
the Nene was diverted, the greater part of the earth-
works levelled, and a new road cut across the levelled
castle site joining Black Lion Hill to St. Andrew's
Road. A postern from the wall above the river was
re-erected in the southern boundary wall of the goods
station, and this is all that now remains of the castle
buildings.^
Whilst prisoners were still kept at the castle in
1655,^' as early as 1630 ** a house of correction for the
county had been set up in the town, under the control
(if the county justices. This was in or near the old
Dell Inn,^ across the road from the south-east corner
of All Saints' Churchyard, and it served as a county
gaol, supplementary to that in the castle. Here pro-
b.ibly the Quakers were confined, between 1655 and
1664**, who issued various tracts from their prison,
and died, several of them, of their hard usage." It
was formally conveyed to the use of the county in
1670, as a gaol and bridewell.^^ The buildings were
destroyed by the fire of 1675, and on the same site,
as it seems, the present County Hall was erected
between 1676 and 1678 from the designs of Sir
Roger Norwich, by H. G. Jones, who rebuilt All
Saints' Church.*' The County House of Correction
was at the same time rebuilt behind the Sessions
House, and a house built by Sir William Haselwood
on a piece of land to the west was used as a gaol
and bought by the county in 1691.*' Then, and for
many years later, the county gaol looked south across
Angel Street to the open country with no houses
intetyfening. In 1777, when Howard visited it, some
new cells had been built, but there was still an under-
ground dungeon like that in which the Quakers had
suffered.'* In 1792-4 a new gaol and bridewell were
erected to the south of the County Hall, and the old
gaol was made into the turnkey's house. The new
gaol was built so as to conform with Howard's recom-
mendations and held 120 prisoners. This in its
turn was found inadequate by rising standards, and an
addition to the gaol was built to the east and south of
the old site in 1846 by J. iMilne.^ This latest gaol,
built for 140 prisoners, served the county till 1889,
\\hen, all prisons having been vested in the Secretary
of State by the Act of 1877,^ it ceased to be used,
and the former borough g.iol became the only prison
in the town. The old county gaol wa's sold to Mr.
J. Watkins in 1880, who sold the portion now used
as the museum and art gallery to the Town Council.
The remainder of the property was bought by the
Salvation Army in 1889 and purchased from them by
the County Council in 1914. The Salvation Army
remained in occupation as tenants till early in 1928.
The building is new being reconstructed to serve as
'Cal. Close 1234-7, p. 138.
' Ibid. 1242-7, p. 195.
• Ibid. p. 522.
• Liberate R. 33 Hen. Ill, in. II.
'• Liberate R. 33 Hen. Ill, m. 3.
" Cal. Close, 1247-51, p. 510.
'• Liberate R. 36 Hen. Ill, m. 15 ; 37
Hen. Ill, m. 1 1.
'• Printed in full, Hartshome, ^^em. of
NoTibamfl., pp. 136-7.
" Chan. Misc. Inq. 16 Edw. II, 89/15.
" Hartihome, Mem.of NorlbampI, 164.
" Part. R. iii, 89-90.
" Cal. Close, 1346-9, p. 196.
>' Enrolled Accounts (Foreign), 13 Ric.
II, Roll E, m. 38 d.
" llinerary, i, 9.
'" Scr']cinUon,Castle oj Norlbampt. p. 45.
" NorthampuCorp. Deeds, Press C. 109.
" Photographs of the remains before
demolition are preserved in Northampt.
Public Library, and several are reproduced
in Scrieantson, Castle of Northampt.
" Quarter Sessions Records {NortbanU.
Rec. See), vol. i, 194.
"Ibid. p. 55.
=' C. A. Markham, Hist, of the County
Buildings of Nortbampt. (1885), pp. 5-8.
35
" Ibid. pp. 3-4.
" Ibid. pp. 53-5. List of Tracts
written in Northampton gaol. See also
Quarter Sessions Records, i, 191 ; Brief
.■hiount of the Sufferings of the People called
Quakers.
*' See Quarter Sessions Files — Acts of
Court. Epiphany, 21 Charles II.
•'Markham, op. cit. p. 42.
"Ibid. p. II.
" Howard, State of the Prisons in Eng-
land and If ahs, 1777.
"Marliham, op. cit. pp. ic-24.
"40 and 41 Vict. c. 21.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
additional offices for the County Council and a record
room and students' room for the Northamptonshire
Record Society.^^^
The prison of the vill of Northampton, as distinct
from the prison in the castle, is mentioned in 1253**
when the keeper of the prison is named. From an
incident narrated by the jurors of 1274-5 ^ ''^ appears
that the baihffs kept the key of the prison, and that
any person who had a thief to imprison could apply
to them for it. There is no means of locating the
town gaol til! the i6th century ; then it is mentioned
in Northampton after the closing of the county g.Jol
in 1889, was also closed in 1922, and Bedford prison
now serves Northampton for male prisoners and Bir-
mingham for female.
The earliest mention of the Town Hall is found in
1285, when the justices in eyre held their session for
the borough ' in the common hall ' (in communi aula).*^
The Guildhall or ' Gihalda,' is mentioned in the
charter of Richard II of 1385,*- as the place where
the mayor and baiUflfs hold their pleas, and in 1387*'
as the place where the court of husting sat. Henry
■Mm
!«I"M„|,^,
»lll||(/|Jl,.. .,.
Northampton : The County Hall
as adjoining the town hall, in Abington Street, and
from 1584 some cf the rooms under the town hall
were used as prisons for some 200 years." In 1 777,
owing, it may be, to Howard's visit, complaint was
made that the town gaols were close and unfit fur
the reception of prisoners,^ and a levy upon the town
was ordered for the necessary repairs.^ About 1 800
the use of these rooms was abandoned, and a gaol
was built by the town on a site in Fish Lane given
by the corporation, and subsequently altered in
1823 and 1840.'* This gaol was superseded in 1845
by the new town gaol on the Mounts, built by Hull
on the PentonviUc model and capable of holding 80
prisoners.^ The gaol in Fish Lane became a police
station. The gaol on the Mounts, the only prison
Lee says that the old Town Hall was in a little close,
adjoining the last house on the right hand in the
lane going from the Mayorhold to tlie Scarlet well,
and he had seen a circular mark of stonework on the
west end of the adjoining houses."" The second Town
Hall, which stood at the south-cast of the IMarket
Square, between Abington Street and Dickers Lane,
was apparently of 14th century origin.** The third
story may have been added in the I5t!i century:
possibly when the assembly began to be held here after
1489. Tlie basement was used for shops in the
Tudor period, and in the 17th and l8th centuries
for a town gaol. The assembly books and the accounts
report various repairs to the Town Hall in the 17th
and 1 8th centuries.** The building was of tiiree
•••Inf. from Clerk lo the Co. Council.
" Anizs R. 615, III. nd.
" Rol. Ilund. ii, 5.
•• BoTC. Ric. ii, 175.
" Aiitmbly Rook, 3 Feb. 1777.
•• Ibid. 9 Feb. 177H.
•'Hold. Rer. ii, 176; Pari. I'apen, 1833,
vol. niii, p. 51.
" Ci. N. Wetton, Guidebook U Norih-
ampi. and its ytctnity (1849), p. 47.
36
" .\»si/c R. 619. 111. 74.
" Roro. Ree. i, 367 (;iA/J un/n).
" Ibid, i, 160. CyidrhMe 1432, ibid..
I, 269. ••• Lee, Coll. 91.
•' lloro. Rrc. ii, 172. •' Ibid. 172-3.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
stories with battlemcnted parapet, the hall being on
the first floor, and the ground story originally open.
Several pointed two-light windows on the first floor
long survived, though latterly in a more or less muti-
lated state, but the upper windows were square-
headed. The door and the outside staircase were
burnt in 1675, but the rest remained until 1864,
when, on the building of the new Town Hall in St.
Giles Street, the old hall and its site were sold by
auction for j^l,20O, and the old hall destroyed.*'
Some oak wainscot from the council chamber and
an Elizabethan table with bulbous legs
are in the Abinglon Museum.
The east wing of the present Town
Hall, designed by E. \V. Godwin, was
built in 1861-4; the west wing, added
in 1889-92, was designed by A. W. Jeflrey
and M. H. Holding, the restorers of
Castle Ashby. The public library was
housed here with the museum, until 1883;
the borough records are now preserved
here.
Of the few surviving houses which
escaped the fire of 1675 the most notable
is No. 33 Marcfair, known as the Hazlc-
rigg Mansion, since 1914 a ladies' club.'"
It is a stone-fronted building of two
main stories, and attics with three
rounded dormer gables corbelled out
from the wall, and appears to date from
the end of the l6th or early years of
the 17th century. It was purchased by
Robert Hesilrige in 1678,''* and continued fl
in the family till about 1835,''* when
it was bought by George Baker,^ ilic
historian of the county, who with his
sister resided in it and died there. The
building formerly extended farther to
the east, with fi\e gables to the street,
and a frontage of about 97 ft., now
reduced to 51 ft. 3 in. It has a square-
headed moulded doorway, and mullioned
windows of two or three lights, all with-
out transoms or hood moulds. There
seems originally to have been a porch.'*
The interior has been much altered and
the plan modified. None of the old
fireplaces remains, but there is a good contemporary
staircase with twisted balusters and moulded hand-
rail. In one of the bedrooms arc three large and
two smaller pieces of tapestry.** The garden extended
from St. Peter's Church to the present Freeschool
Lane, and contained a summer house. The building
was recently restored.
The so-called ' Welsh House ' or ' Dr. Danvers'
House ' from Dr. Daniel Danvers v, I\o lived in it at
the end of the 17th century (No. 2 NewJand) at the
north-east corner of the Market Place,** was until
recently a building of some architectural interest, but
the ground floor was first converted into shops and
in 1924 the three lofty dormers of the attic story,
with three-light windows and curved gables, were
taken down. Little old work therefore remains except
the calling and mullioned windows of the first floor,
between which on the upper part of the waU are three
shields with the arms of Wake of Courteenhall and
Parker, and another shield which has been attributed
to Danvers.** There is also a shaped device with
tall finial, formerly surmounting one of the lower
Mi
'li \mfm
Northampton : The Town Hall
windows, on which are the initials and d.Ue 'W.E.P.,
1595,' and the motto ' heb . dyw . heb . dym . dyw .
A DicoN ' (Without God, without everytliing, with
God enough). Below the motto is a large shield
with the arms of Parker with crescent for difference,
flanked by two smaller unidentified shields.** The
history of the building is not known, but judging from
the initials and two of the shields, it may have been
the residence of John Parker, Serjeant at law, of
Northampton, and built by one of the family.** It
has a frontage facing west of 60 ft. and a depth of
•• Boro. Rec. ii, 17;.
" It ii alto the head>]uartcri oi the
Northampton and Oakham Arch, and
Archzol. Soc. It i> on the touth tide of
the street, and it alio known at Cromwell
Houie from a local tradition that Crom-
well ilept there the night before the battle
of N>teb)r.
♦• Serjeinttoo, Hill, of Cb. tj Su Ptur,
Koribtmfl. tji.
" Xoribaiiipt. iV. anil O. i, 57.
'• Ibid. Before purchase by Mr. B.iker
the house had remained so long empty
and shut up that the title \nt rumoured
lost. It wat stripped of much of itt wains-
cot and ornament at this time.
•' A tquare projection it ihown on a
plan of 1713 ; ibid. 58.
" Noriiampi. N. and Q., i, 59, where
they are detcribed.
37
" It was the only house on the
Market PI.->-c spared by the fire of
1675.
^* Arch. '^ urn. xxxv, 436. The third
sliiclJ ' thr^c bars ermine' is not that
usually attributed to Danvers.
*• A chevron between three roset, and a
chevron between three birds.
'* Sir Henry Drydcn iii Njrihdmpl.
,V. and Q. i, 1S5.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
37 ft., and is built of red sandstone, but the front
was stuccoed and painted. Before the removal of the
ground floor wall there was a pedimented doorway,
two low mullioned windows, and a modern bay-
window at one end. The roof was covered with stone
slates, and there were three gables at the back corre-
sponding with those in front, but plainer. Theinterior
has been so altered that the original arrangements
are lost.
A building on the east side of Sheep Street, the
ground floor of which has been converted into six
shops," was originally the property of Lord Halifax
and probably liis town house, but it is best known as
the residence of Dr. Doddridge and the seat of his
'""iffiAjau^oI^j^,
'«*M=,^s«!i:_
Northampton : The Hazlericg Mansion, now
THE Ladies* Club
Northampton Academy from 1740 to 1752. It is a
long stone-fronted early 1 8th century building of
three stories, the upper part of which remains un-
changed, with sash windows and unbroken eaved roof.
The middle story is divided by Ionic pilasters into a
series of bays, as was also the ground floor, but the
top story, which was added in Doddridge's time,'' is
quite plain. There was originally a wide central
gateway, two arched recesses over which still remain.
The County Hall, erected at the close of the 17th
century in the Classic Renaissance style of the day,
is a simple but dignified building of a single story,
with high-pitched hipped roof, in which the entabla-
ture is supported by pilasters and coupled columns
of the Composite order standing on a high base.
The main front, facing north to George Row, is a
well-balanced composition with a balustrade and
curved pediment at each end containing the Royal
Arms. The great hall has a richly ornamented
plaster ceiling, completed in i688.'' The County
Council Chamber, erected in 1 890, and a Record Room
built early in the i8th century stand behind the Hall.
The Judges' Lodging, a plain i8th century stone-
fronted house adjoining the County Hall on the east,
was formerly a private residence, but was acquired for
its present purpose in 1819.
The nucleus of the Public Library was the
Northampton Mechanics' Institute, set up in 1832
in George Row. Though in 1849 it was described
as ' more flourislung than most in the kingdom ' *"
and possessed a Ubrary of 7,500 volumes, by 1876 it
was in financial difficulties, and its books were handed
over to form the beginnings of the Pubhc Library.
It was at first housed in the Town Hall ; transferred
in 1884, vrith the museum, to the old county gaol in
Guildhall Road, which had been purchased by the
town and reconstructed for the purpose ; augmented
in 1885 by the library of the ReHgious and Useful
Knowledge Society (founded in 1839, consisting of
some 5,000 volumes) and by a collection of Northamp-
tonshire books, purchased by public subscription. A
new wing was added in 1889. In 1901 the open
access system was introduced ; and in June 1910 the
present buildings in Abington Street were opened.
A juvenile library and reading room were added in
191 2, and in 1921 a special local room, containing
some 16,000 items dealing with the town and county,
including books, pamphlets, prints, drawings, maps,
plans, posters, playbills, photographs, manuscripts
and transcripts. The Photographic Survey of the
district is kept here. The library possesses a com-
plete file of the Northampton Mercury, going back to
May 1720."
The Museum, in Guildhall Road, on the site of the
county gaol, contains the remains from Northampton
Castle, from Hunsbury, from Duston, from Towcester
and Irchester, various Anglo-Saxon antiquities, and a
collection of boots and shoes and other leather articles.
There is also a small art gallery.
Another museum is at Abington Hall, which was
presented to the town by Lady Wantage in 1894;
most of the Natural History specimens are preserved
here, and there are also local engravings and portraits
of local worthies.
The first proposal for a county infirmary*^ was put
forward by Dr. John Rushworth, son of a vicar of
St. Sepulchre's, who practised as a surgeon in North-
ampton for many years. In a pampidet addressed to
the Surgeons' Company in 1731 he urged the desira-
bility of Parliament's assisting in the erection of an
infirmary in the centre of every county. He followed
this up by an advertisement in the London Gazette,
offering to give j^5o towards the building of such an
infirmary in his own county, and suggesting the
calling of a meeting to discuss it, at Quarter Sessions
or some other time.** Nothing, however, came of his
suggestion till after his death.** In 1743 Dr. James
Stonhouse, then aged 27, came to the town to practise,
and within two months had circulated papers entitled
' Considerations offered to the Nobility, Gentry,
" Numbered |8 to 24.
" Arnold and Cooper, lliii. 0] Ch, 0,
OodJriJge, 8-).
" The ceiling, which ».ii the woik of
F.dNvard Cfoudge, 16H4-88, was cut in two
in 1812 when the Crimin;il Court wat
lalien out ol the hall.
" Wctton, Guidi 10 Notlbampl. aii.l ihe
Vtctntiy^ p. 65.
" lltuilratrd Guide to Northampl. I'ublic
Library, iiiucd by Northainpt. I'ublic
Library Coinrniltcc (1926).
"'The following account is based on
th.it by C. A. Mjrltham in Xoriham/il. N.
and Q. New Scriei. Vol. II.
38
•' Northampt. Mrrcurv, 20 December
1731.
•* He died in 1736; in 1747 bit ion
Daniel writcj from the County Hospital
to solicit Lord Townihcnd'i lupport for
the (clicmc. l/tst. MSS, Com. Rep. xi, app.
iv, p. 368.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
&^%%
'-.-*^
Clergy and all who have any property in the County,
with regard to the establishment of a County Hospital
in Northampton.' The subject was brought up
before the Grand Jury at the Assizes on 21 July, and
the design being approved, a subscription was started
on the spot. The project was warmly supported both
by the county, the corporation, and the influential
minister of Castle Hill Chapel, Dr. Doddridge, who
preached a sermon on 4 September 1743, " In favour of
a design to erect a County Infirmary,' in which his
detailed account of the eleven e.xisting provincial and
London infirmaries suggests that he
must share with Rushworth and
Stonhoase the honour of originating
the scheme. A large edition of this
sermon was printed. At a meeting
of the subscribers on 20 September
1743, a committee was elected, and
on 17 November 1743 the statutes
and rules for the government of the
hospital, modelled upon those of the
Winchester Infirmary, were confirmed;
and a house in George Row, to the
west of the County Gaol, was obtained
and fitted up by December. ' Thus
has the project of a County Hospital
at Northampton, of which some per-
sons there wholly despaired, been
brought to maturity in less than two
months from the first meeting on this
occasion.'** Three physicians, includ-
ing Dr. Stonhouse, two surgeons and
an apothecary, were appointed to the
staff. All those who subscribed £2
a year or more were governors, the Grand Visitor
was the Duke of Montagu, and the Perpetual
President the Earl of Northampton. The formal
opening took place on 27 March 1744.** The hospital
contained thirty beds at its opening, and issued
its first report in October 1 744, when 103 in-patients
and 79 out-patients had been treated. Up to 1829
the subscribers used to assemble on Anniversary Day
to hear the annual report, and proceed to All Saints'
Church to hear a special sermon and contribute to
collections when the bag was taken round by the
Countess of Northampton and other ladies of title.
In 1753 the building was enlarged and the number of
beds increased to 60, the financial strain being met by
fresh appeals to the public, and in spite of setbacks
the work of the hospital developed steadily and a
further enlargement was made in 1782. In 1790 it
was resolved to erect a new hospital, in view of the
unfavourable report of Dr. Kerr, one of the governors,
on the site, the offices and the water supply." The
new hospital was to accommodate 90-100 patients ;
and amongst other conditions it was laid down that
each patient should be allowed 90 square feet, that
no ward should contain more than 10 beds, and that
the lavatories should be out of the wards. The new
site was near St. Giles' Church, and had formerly
been part of the possessions of St. Andrew's Priory.
The new building was completed and opened for use
in October 1793, palicius from other counties besides
Northamptonshire being admitted for treatment.
In January 1804 the practice of free vaccination of
out-patients was begun, and 1,882 persons were
inoculated in the next five years. It is interesting to
note that the building of the London and Birmingham
railway, 1835-37, produced so many casu.ihics that the
Hospital Committee resolved ' that the managers of
the railroad within reach of Northampton be informed
that it is impossible that any more cases of simple
fracture can be received into the House ; compound
9 lO'OL 'llilf-
-TSJ ,, Will'iTHmilllllllHI'l,
'TSlJlliilllliilliliiiliririjiiii
Northampton : Dr. Dan vers' House before 1924
fractures or such cases only as arc attended with
danger can be admitted.' The use of anesthetics for
surgical operations began in January 1847. In 1872,
1879 and 1889 further additions were made to the
hospital, the last to commemorate Queen Victoria's
jubilee ; in 1896 a new operating theatre was added.
The name of General Infirmary was changed in 1903
to ' The Northampton General Hospital.' In 1901
two new wings were erected, and the old building
became a home for the staflF, with a library and labora-
tories : the new buildings were opened on 2 June 1904,
The constitution of the hospital was drastically
revised in 1904 and a new board of management set up.
The hospital has now 231 beds, with an average yearly
number of 2,891 in-patients and 12,449 out-patients.
Other hospitals now existing in Northampton are :
St. Andrew's Hospital (for Mental Diseases), the
scheme for which originated at a meeting of the
governors of the General Infirmary in 1814, but which
owes its beginning to a gift from the second Earl
Spencer in 1828. It was opened in 1836-7. The
Northamptonshire poet, John Clare, died here in 1864.
It will hold 500 patients, many of whose payments are
assisted from the charity.
The Royal Victoria Dispensary, opened in 1845,
served a useful purpose till the 20th century in
pro\'iding medical service, on an assisted contributory
basis. It was dissolved in February 1923, the
" Gtnt. Ma^. xiii, 6io. The editor of
thii periodical, Edward Cave, the pro-
prietor of the Cotton \fiUi then recently
•tarted in Northampt., wa> one of the
original lubtcriberi to the hoipital.
•• The lermon preached by Dr. R. Grey
on the opening day wai printed by W.
Dicey of Northampt., together with the
■tattite* of the infirmary, and an engrav-
39
ing, after a drawing by K. Gravelot, of a
ward in the infirmary.
•' Northampt. Mercury^ 9 Jan. 1790. Dr.
Kerr wji turgeon at the Infirmary, 1765-
1815.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
building sold, and the assets handed over to the
General Hospital.
The Northampton Queen Victoria Nursing Institu-
tion, opened in 1901, has two maternity homes
dependent upon it, opened in 1918 and 1919, in
Colwyn Road and Kingsthorpe Road. There are at
the present time eight Infant Welfare Centres in the
town with an attendance of 700 mothers, and a stafi
of one lady doctor, and 4 health visitors assisted by
70 voluntar)' workers.
Of other important buildings, the B-irracks in St.
George's Square were built in 1 796 on the petition
of the townsmen ; the Working Men's Club in St.
Giles' Street was founded in 1865 by the late Major
Whjte-Melville ; the Opera House in Guildhall
Road was erected in 1884, the Temperance Hall in
Newland in 1887 and the Masonic HaU in Princess
Street in 1889-90. A statue in terra-cotta of Charles
Bradlaugh, for many years member of Parhament for
the city, was unveiled by Sir Philip Manfield, M.P., on
25 June 1894 in Abington Square. There is also
in the Market Square a monument with a bronze
bust of Lieut.-Col. Edgar R. Mobbs, D.S.O., 'a
great and gallant sportsman,' who raised a company
of the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1914 and was
killed in action 31 July 1917. The monument was
unveiled by Lord Lilford on 17 July 1 92 1. There
is a bust of King Edward VII in the north-west
angle of the wall in front of the General Hospital in
the Billing Road.
A large proportion of the names associated with
Northampton are those of dinnes of varying de-
nominations. The famous schoolman, Duns Scotus,
was ordained a priest in St. Andrew's Priory Church
by Bishop Oliver Sutton on 17 March 1291.*'°
Among the friars of the Northampton houses
were the famous 13th-century Franciscan, Thomas
Bungay, lecturer at both Oxford and Cam-
bridge, who died and was buried here ; the Dominican,
Robert Hokot, the reputed author of Philobiblon
and 26 other treatises, who died here in 1 349; the
Augustinian friar, Geoffrey Grandfelt (d. 1 340);
the Carmelites, John Avon, a distinguished mathe-
matician, who died in 1349 ; William Bcaufcu, a noted
theologian (d. 1390), and Thomas Ashburne, the
author (in 1384) of De Contemptu Mundi. Among tlie
Anglican divines, besides a number of distinguished
rectors of All Saints' and St. Peter's Churches, are T.
Cartwright (1634-89), born at Northampton and edu
catcd at Chipsey's Grammar School, Bishop of Chester,
1685, and a wholehearted supporter of James II,
like his fellow-townsmen, Samuel Parker (1640-88),
Bishop of Oxford, 1686-88, and intruded by James II
into the presidency of Magdalen College, Oxford.
Among the famous Nonconformists, besides Doddridge
and the Rylands, should be mentioned John Penry
(1559-93), the reputed author of m.anyof the Marpre-
late Tracts, whose wife was a native of Northampton,
and who lived here 1587-1590; Robert Browne**
(i 550-1633), founder of the Brownists, who died in
Northampton Gaol and was buried in St. Giles'
Churchyard ; and Samuel Blower (d. 1701), the founder
of Castle Hill meeting house. Of literary worthies,
Anne Bradstreet, the New England poetess (161 2-
1672), should be noted as a native of Northampton ;
also Thomas Woolston, the freethinker (1660-1733),
the son of a Northampton currier, deprived of his
fellowship at Sidney Sussex College for his icono-
clastic criticism of the Old Testament ; Simon
Wastell (d. 1632), headmaster of Chipsey's school
and author of Microbiblion ; and William Shipley
(1714-1803), drawing master in Northampton,
originator of the Royal Society of Arts ; the two anti-
quaries, George Baker (1781-1851), author of an
unfinished History of Northants, and his sister, Ann
Baker (1786-1861), who helped to save St. Peter's
Church from neglect and ruin, and compiled a
glossary of Northamptonshire words and phrases ;
John Cole (1792-1848), bookseller and antiquary,
the friend of Baker, the author of a short account
of Northampton (18 1 5), who pubUshed many anti-
quarian works, and made a collection of books on
the town and county, now in the Pubhc Library.
E. A. Freeman, the liistorian, was a schoolboy in
Northampton from 1829-37, and James Rice, col-
laborator with Sir Walter Besant in novel writing,
was born here in 1843. Of the medical profession,
besides Rushworth (1669-1736), Sir James Stonhouse
(1716-98) should be mentioned, the founder, with
Doddridge, of the County Infirmary, converted by
Doddridge, and ordained as a deacon of the Church
of England in 1749, practising medicine in Northamp-
ton 1743-64, and ending his life as a parish clergyman.
Sir Charles Locock (1799-1875), accoucheur to Queen
Victoria, was a native of Northampton. In connec-
tion with political hfe. Sir Richard Lane (1584-1650),
deputy recorder of Northampton,* nati\eof Courteen-
hall, defended Straflord on his trial, and was made
Lord Keeper in 1645. Spencer Perceval and Brad-
laugh have been mentioned in connection with the
parhamentary history of the borough. R. G. Gam-
mage (d. 1 888), a native of Northampton, was an active
organiser of Chartism in Northampton and the
neighbourhood, and author of a History of the Chartist
Movement (1854). W. L. Maberley (1798-1885),
member for Northampton from 1820 to 1830,
was secretary of the Gener.1l Post Office and a die-
hard opponent of Rowland Hill's postal reforms from
1846 to 1854, ' wasting millions of public money.'**
The church of ST. PETER stands
CHURCHES, on the south side of Marefair,
near the west end of the town,
close to the site of the castle. The building is chiefly
of late 1 2th century date, but two fragments of pre-
Conquest cross-shafts" found in 1850 point to an
earlier church having occupied the site. No part
of the present building, however, is older than c. 1150-
75, to which period the chancel and nave arcades,
the tower arcli and part of the clearstory walls belong ;
the arcades arc very perfect examples of the highly
decorated work of the time, and have frequently
been noticed and illustrated."
•" Arrb. Francti Hill. ann. xxii, Faic.
1, 11, 19J9.
•• A. Jetiopp'i life of R. Browne in tlic
Dill. A'ffl/. Bio[(. iliouUl be lupplenicnted
by R. M. Serje.intion'i account in lliii.
«/ Cb. of Si. 6'i/cj, !<orihampl. (pp. 188-
20z). A monument to hit memory w.i»
erected in the churchyard in 1913.
•• Did. Nat. Biog. for all prccedin)?.
" r.C.II. Norihanli. ii, 189. They
were found under the \ve«t reipondi of the
nave arcade", and arc now in (he Public
40
Museum. They are figured in R. M. Ser-
jeantion'i llist. of Ch. of St. Peter,
Norlhampt. 12. Mr. Serjeant ion's work
has been used in the following description.
" See references in SrrjeanHon, op, cit.
40.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
The church consists of a continuous dearstoricd
chancel and nave under one roof about 93 ft. long'^
by 18 ft. vride, continuous north and south aisles
6 ft. 6 in. wide, north porch, and west tower 12 ft. 4 in.
by 12 ft. 8 in., all these measurements being internal.
The width across nave and aisles is 35 ft., and the total
internal length of the church is 108 ft. 6 in.
Except at the west end the plan is substantially
the same as when first set out, though the walls of
both aisles and the east end of the chancel have
been rebuilt at different times. Originally the nave
extended about 10 ft. further west, with tower be-
yond, but was shortened and the tower rebuilt
in its present position probably in the early years of the
17th century.™ The aisle walls were rebuilt in the
The walling is generally of ironstone rubble and the
main roof is covered with stone slates with slightly
projecting eaves ; the aisle roofs are leaded, behind
plain parapets. Internally the walls are plastered.
The chancel is structurally an eastward exten-
sion of the nave, the dividing piers of the arcades
being common to both. There is no chancel arch,
and the design of the arcades precludes there having
been one. The nave originally consisted of three
double bays, with arches arranged in pairs, supported
alternately by slender cylindrical pillars and by
more massive compound piers, but the western
double bay was cut in halves at the time of the altera-
tions recorded above, and only its eastern portion
remains. The rebuilt tower thus encroaches on the
ILate 121!) CENr.^.ll75-l200jESgi7I!! CtiNrukv
IDLmf. I2I!1 Cunt. rebuilt m new position in 1 71!! Ckxturv
[1^314!!! Ceviukv ^1521 Ci;m- □Modi':k\(I850-|)
Sc.vLE OF Feet
Plan of St. Peter's Church, Northampton
14th century, the old doorways being retained, and
some alterations were afterwards made at the east
end of the north aisle, where a 15th century window
still remains.''* Square-headed windows were inserted
in the aisles in the 17th century, and the east end of
the building seems to have been reconstructed about
the same time," the projecting square end of the
chancel being removed and the aisles shortened.
After long years of neglect, the building was re-
stored in 1850-51 by Sir Gilbert Scott,'* when the
cast end was rebuilt in its present form," the clear-
story (which had been mutilated and modernised)'*
restored to its original character, and the nave and
chancel new roofed. The aisle roofs were renewed
in 1882. The tower was further restored externally
in 1901, and 1912-13.
clearstory and arcades, the present west responds
of which are in reality whole pillars partly built into
the wall." The chancel arcades consist of three single
bays, with cylindrical pillars on each side.
The arches throughout are semicircular, and of
about 7 ft. span, of a single order, with bold chevron
ornament on each side and plain soffits, but without
hood moulds. The compound piers are of quatrefoil
section, consisting of four clustered shafts, those
facing east and west forming responds to the inter-
mediate pillars. The shafts on the side towards the
nave are continued up to the top of the clearstory
as supports for the roof principals, and have scalloped
capitals, while those towards the aisles formed springer.s
for transverse arches now destroyed. The diameter
of the compound piers is considerably greater than
" Of thii the chancel it 42 (t. 6 in.
•• Sir Gilbert Scott reported that he
had been informed by the clerk that there
were foundation! extending from the tower
weitward which prevented the digging of
gravel : Serjeantion, op. cit. 262. Prof.
Hamilton Thompion luggeiti that it ii
poiiible that the rebuilding of the tower
and of the eait end and the insertion of
the numeroui iquare-headed window! all
took place earljr in the reign of Cbarle! I
while Dr. Samuel Clerk wai rector.
Clerk wa! one of the commi!!ioncr!
appointed by the Bishop to lee that the
churchc! were decently kept, and he would
feel bound to set hii own house in
order to begin with. Arch. Jour. Ixix,
437-
" A crypt at the east end of the aisle is
probably not older than the 1 5th century
alteration. It was examined in 1850 and
found to be 16 ft. by 9 ft., with two
^^indow! in the north wall, and the roof
lupported by five legmental stone ribs :
ibid. 61.
" During its demolition in 1850 a coin
of Charles I was found in the then existing
east wall. The reconstruction of the cast
and west ends of the church may have been
contemporaneous.
" His fir!t report i! dated May 1849.
The reitoration wa! beg'm in June 1850,
41
and the church reopened in April
1852.
'^ The original foundations of the chan-
cel were found lome 12 ft. eastward of the
then existing east wall, and new walls were
built upon them. Many 12th century
fragments were found in the wall during
demolition. The aisles, which had appa-
rently been shortened about 5 ft., were
extended to their former length : Serjeant-
son, op. cit. 61.
" On the south side the clearstory
arcade had been cut away to admit two
late windows, presumably of 17th century
date : Serjeantson. op. cit. 60,
'• Ibid. 59.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
the thickness of the wall above them, while that of the
intermediate pillars, which are banded at rather more
than half their height, is something less. In the orna-
mentation of the bands the cable moulding pre-
dominates, and it occurs also in great variety in the
necks of the capitals throughout. The moulded bases
stand on square plinths and some of them have acutely
pointed foot ornaments. The whole of the capitals
and their square abaci in both nave and chancel
are most elaborately sculptured, the deep, intricate
chiselling on the former contrasting strongly with the
St. Peter's Church, Northampton : Capital
comparatively rough axe work on the arches.** Tlie
capitals are all different, and their beautiful and
delicate sculpture, which includes interlacing foliage
and some animal and figure subjects, is of its kind
unsurpassed in the kingdom.**
In the chancel the two pairs of pillars diflfer in
size and design ; the eastern pair is similar to those
in the nave, wliile the western pillars are of greater
diameter, without bands, and built of ironstone.
The eastern responds correspond with the western
pillars, the idea of alternation being thus in some
measure carried out.** Elsewhere in the interior
free-stone is used.
The modern east end of the chancel is in the style
of the 1 2th century, with round-headed windows
disposed in a somewh.it unusual manner.** No
ancient ritual arrangements remain either in the
chancel or aisles, having no doubt perished at the
time of the destruction of the original east end.
The clearstory consists externally of a shallow
arcading of semicircular unmoulded arches on
detached shafts with scalloped capitals and moulded
bases running the whole length of chancel and nave.
Every se\enth space is pierced for a window, and
above the arcades is a contemporary corbel table
of heads and grotesques. Internally the windows
are perfectly plain and widely splayed, but do not
correspond with the arches below, the clearstory
having been designed with a single mndow immedi-
ately over the pillars in the eastern and western
double bays of the nave, and with two windows in the
middle double bay. Of the two western windows,
one was pushed out of shape and the other actually
cut in halves when the tower was re-erected further
east.
The east end of both aisles was rebuilt at the same
time as the chancel, but the outer walls elsewhere
appear to be of the 14th century. In the north wall
a re-used 12th century stringcourse is continued round
the westernmost buttress, and the original round-
headed doorway is of two square orders and plain
hoodmould, the outer order resting on mutilated
scalloped capitals.** The contemporary south doorway
is also of two plain orders, the outer on shafts with
divided capitals and moulded bases. One 14th century
square-headed window of two trefoiled lights remains
on the north side, and in the south aisle, near the east
end of the nave portion, is a moulded segmental
tomb recess of the same period, the arch supported
by small attached shafts with capitals and bases.
The 15th century window in the north aisle is of three
cinquefoiled lights with Perpendicular tracery,
but all the other windows are late, square-headed,
and of three unfoliated lights.
The tower is of three unequal and irregular stages,
and offers many evidences of reconstruction. The
lowest stage, which has a boldly moulded plinth,**
is faced with alternate courses of ironstone and free-
stone forming broad bands of contrasting colour,
and inserted in the west wall is a remarkable and beau-
tiful arch of three delicately carved orders all flush
with the wall plane, with hoodmould and imposts
similarly carved, but no jambs. Set within this arch,
above the plinth, is a much restored square-headed
window of three trefoiled lights, but there can be little
doubt that the arch belonged originally to a 1 2th cen-
tury west doorway of three or more** recessed orders
the jambs of which were removed when the tower
was rebuilt. On the nortli and south sides of the lowest
•" Serjcantion, op. clt. 42. The capitah
were probably carved after the completion
of the building.
■* The capitali were for long covered
by pbiter and whitcw.iih, but about 1839
were carefully icraped by Miti Baker and
their original beauty revealed : Serjeant-
ion, op. cit. 66.
•■ Ibid. 47.
" In the eait wall tlicre are nine
opening!, two in the lowc»t *tagc, four
in a quintuple arcading of the middle
itage (the centre arch being left blinds,
and three in the gable — a centr.il round-
headed light like the otheri, and on each
»ide of it a imall qu.itrefoiled circle :
ibid. 47. A lemicircut.'ir central but-
tre»», which survived the i7th century
alterations and hai been retained, wai
apparently the determining factor in
Scott'i design : ibid. 60.
*• The jimbihaftt were originally
cylindric.il .ind dct.-iched ; ibid. 51.
" Sir Gilbert Scott in hit report referred
to ' the extremely un-Nornnn appcirancc
42
of tlic basccourse round the tower ' :
ibid. 261.
*• Sir Gilbert Scott made incisions in
the west wall and found that there had
existed one or more additional orders,
but that they had been taken out; there
were, however, no traces of jambs :
Serjcantson, op. cit. 59,261. *A capital
which was duj; up on relaying the floor
may have bt-lcmped to a jambibpft of this
doorway, which in its original state must
have been one of exceptional splendour ' :
ibid. 59.
Northampton : St. Peter's Church from the North- west
XoRiHVMi'TON r Si. Peter's Chikcii : The I.s-terior, eookinc East
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
stage, above the plain masonry, are two courses of fine
carving, and over these an arcade of blind arches
ranging with those of the clearstory. The middle
stage is separated from the lower by a string course of
trowel point ornament supported by a corbel table
of heads and grotesques, and has an arcade of round
irches on each of its three sides, the arches being
moulded and supported by octagonal detached shafts
with scalloped capitals and moulded bases. Above
these is another corbel table and stringcourse with
double roll-moulding.
The two western angles are covered, to the top
of the middle stage, by large buttresses of unusual
design, consisting of triple clustered freestone shafts,
perhaps fashioned from 1 2th century columns or
jambshafts,*' and at the north-east angle is a massive
four-stage buttress, of alternate courses of ironstone
and freestone, projecting in its lower stages beyond the
width of the aisle. .At the south-east angle a large square
staircase turret serves as a corresponding buttress.
To the top of tlic middle stage, after the cessation
of the alternate bands, the tower is mainly of free-
stone, but above the arcades ironstone is used.
The upper stage is later in ch.iracter, with battle-
mented parapet, pyramidal stone slated roof, and
transomcd bell-chamber windows of two trefoiled
lights with separate hoodmoulds. The triple-shafted
buttresses are continued as single shafts, in two stages
to the underside of the parapet. The walls of the
upper part of the tower are said to be largely built
of moulded and wrought stones of 13th century date,'*
which may have been brought from one or other of the
destroyed monastic buildings in the neighbourhood,"
and there is reason to believe that the whole of this
work in its existing form dates only from the early
17th century rebuilding.
The reconstructed late 12th century tower arch
occupies the whole width of the west end of the nave,
and consists of three orders all richly decorated with
cheveron moulding," and a bold square-edged hood-
mould ornamented with fine chiselled work. The
orders spring from half-round responds and detached
jarab-shafts with elaborately carved capitals*' and
moulded bases. Three of the shafts are enriched,
one on the north side with a spiral pattern, while
two on the south are ornamented respectively with
interlaced work and with studded cheverons.**
The unmounted octagonal font is of late 14th
century date, the sides panelled with cusped tracery
under straight-sided crocketed canopies which spring
from dwarf buttresses at the angles and terminate
in floriated finials. In the upper part, between the
canopies, the angles are ornamented with crocketed
attached pinnacles.
The stone pulpit, low chancel wall, and all the
roofs and fittings are modern. The carved oak reredos,
first erected in 1878, was completed in 1914, as a
" jlrcb. Jeur. xxxv, 417. The
moulded plinth is continued round these
buttresses.
'• Serjeantson. op. cit. 56, ex. inf.
Matthew Holding, architect.
" Either from St. Andrew's Priory or
from St. James's Abbey : ibid. 56.
** In the middle order the cheveron
and ball ornament is used. The arch
is quite plain on the west side.
" 'The capitals of the jimbshafts are
not properly fitted to the orders of the
memorial to Edward Nichols Tom, rector 1873-
1905. There are modern screens north and south
of the chancel.**
In addition to the high altar, mention is made in
the 15th and l6th centuries of the high rood loft,
the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the altars
of St. Nicholas, St. John Baptist and St. Katharine,
and to St. Eregaiar's altar (1535)-**
There are monuments to jolin Smith of London
((/. 1742), ' the most eminent Engraver in Mezzo-
Tinto in his time' ; William Smith I.L.D. (d. 1839),
St. Peter's Church, Northampton : Capital
the ' father of British geology,' with white marble
bust; George Baker** {d. 1851), historian of the
county, and his sister, Ann EUza (d. 1861) ; Edward
Lockwood (d. 1802), rector for 52 years ; John
Stoddart {d. 1827), headmaster of Northampton
Grammar School ; and a brass plate in the chancel
in memory of Robert Meyricke Serjeantson, rector
and historian of the Northampton churches {d. 1916).
In the churchyard is a memorial cross to the men of
the parish who fell in the Great War (1914-18).
There is a ring of eight bells by Abraham Rudhall,
1734°*
The plate consists of a paten of 1709, a cup and
paten of 171 1, a flagon of 1715, and a brcndholder of
1713
97
archivolt above them, nor to the jambs
below them, and some of the stones
composing the shafts seem upside down ' :
Serjeantson, op. cit. 59.
"• Sir Gilbert Scott was of opinion
that the enriched shafts had been brought
from elsewhere, probably from the original
western doorway : ibid. 262.
'■" The organ occupies the north aisle
of the chancel and Testries the south
aisle.
" Ser'eantson, op. cit. 62-64.
43
*'' Buried, with his sister, at King Street
chapel.
" North, Cb. Belli oj Noithants, 348,
where the inscriptions are given. The
tenor was the gift of Sir Arthur Hasllerige.
The bells were rehung in 1893, and ag.iin,
with new fittings, in 1928.
" Markham, Ch. Plait 0/ Norlhatils, ill.
The flagon was the gift of Sir Robert
Hesilrige, but not purchased till two years
alter his death in 1713; the bread-holder
was given by Sir Arthur Hasilerige in 1728.
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■Dyisn
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
The registers before 1812 are as follows : (1) bap-
tisms, marriages, and burials, 1578-1737 ; (2) baptisms
and burials, 1737-1797, marriages, 1737-1754; (3)
marriages, 1756-1794; (4) baptisms and burials, 1797-
1812. The earliest vestrv book begins in April 1736.
The church of THE HOLT SEPULCHRE,^^ one
of the four'* remaining round churches in England,
dates from the early 12th century, and probably owed
its origin to Simon de Senlis earl of Northampton,
by whom it was granted c. Illi to the monastery
of St. Andrew.' Like other churches of this type,
it was built in imitation of the church of the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and consisted originally
of a circular nave and small oblong chancel, which
probably ended in an apse. About 1180 the north wall
of the chancel was pierced by arches to form a chapel,
and towards the close of the 13th century a second
aisle was thrown out on the same side. The present
south aisle dates from the first half of the I4lh
century, and about 1400 the whole of the upper
part of the circular nave was taken down, pointed
arches placed upon the Norman columns, the tri-
foriura destroyed, and a new clearstory built. At the
same time a massive west tower, surmounted by a
spire, was added, and the present south porch built,
the fabric then assuming more or less the aspect
it retained till the 19th century. The original chancel
had, however, been lengthened some time during
the medieval period,* but towards the close of the
l6th, or beginning of the 17th century, when the
fabric was much neglected, the extended east end
was demolished, and the outer north aisle was re-
moved.'
In 186064 a new chancel with north and south
aisles, designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, was added to the
east of the old one, which then became the nave,
and the outer north aisle was rebuilt.* The Round
was restored in 1868-73, but the general work of
restoration was not concluded till 1879, when the
chancel was consecrated. In 1887 a vestry and organ
chamber were built at the east end of the outer
north aisle. The church, therefore, now consists
of a modern chancel with north and south aisles,
or chapels,^ nave 46 ft. by 18 ft. 6 in., with north
and south aisles respectively 17 ft. 6 in. and 16 ft. 6 in.
wide, outer north aisle 17 ft. 10 in. wide, the old cir-
cular nave, or ' Round,' now used as a baptistery,
south porch, and west tower II ft. 10 in. by 14 ft.*
all these measurements being internal.
The church is built throughout of ironstone,
and all the roofs east of the Round are covered with
modern slates ; the nave and aisles are under separate
higli-pitchcd roofs. Before i860 the old chancel
and its aisles extended about 40 ft. east of the Round,
with three flush end gables separated by buttresses ;
the south aisle had been modernised and the tracery
of its south windows removed.' All the roofs are
modern.
Though the Round has suffered many changes,
and some of its original features have been destroyed,
it remains in plan substantially unaltered and its
geneial proportions can be readily detected. It
consisted of two stories, the upper, or clearstory,
supported on an octagonal arcade of eight massive
cylindrical piers which divided the central space from
a circular groined aisle or ambulatory 10 ft. 6 in. wide.
The internal diameter of the Round is 58 ft. 10 in.'
and the outer wall, which is about 25 ft. high
and 4 ft. 4 in. thick above the phnth, was pierced
by two tiers of roimd-headed windows, the lower
lighting the aminilatory and the upper opening
into a triforium above its groined roof. In aU pro-
bability there were smaller round-headed windows
in the circumference of the original clearstory,
which would be covered with a conical roof. Of the
lower tier of windows only one, on the south side
to the west of the present porch, is still in use, but
there are rcm.iins of tlirce others, two on the north
side, and one to the east of the porch. The perfect
window is about 9 ft. above the present ground level,
its sill resting on a simple stringcourse which ran
all round the building. The opening is 4 ft. in height
and 15 in. wide, with plain jambs, hoodmould,
and wide internal splay, the head of which has a
band of cheveron ornament on the edge of the plaster
soffit. Of the upper windows two remain on
the north side, immediately over a second string-
course 10 ft. 4 in. above the first. These windows
are without hoodmoulds and differ in proportion
from those below, being 3 ft. 9 in. high by 20J in.
in breadth. Above them a third stringcourse forms
the base of a plain parapet. The wall was strengthened
by a series of wide shallow buttresses of which seven
still remain, three on the north and two on the south
being in an almost perfect condition, while two others
on the south are cut away below for the porch walls.
These buttresses are from 4 ft. to 4 ft. 6 in. in viidth,
with a projection of 8 in. and die into the wall just
below the topmost stringcourse, the two lower
strings being carried round them. The main story
of the Round was thus divided horizontally into
three stages and vertically into a series of bays, that
" The following dcicriptlon it based
upon the account of the church in Cox
and Scrjeantson's Htst. of Cb. of the
Holy Sepulchre, Aoribamfl. (1897).
" Or five, if the ruined chapel in
Ludlow Cattle it included.
■ From the fact that in the gift of the
churches of Northampton Co the monks of
St. Andrew's recorded in the confirmatory
charter of 1 108 the church of St. Sepulchre
is not mentioned, it has been assumed that
the building was not then finished. Begun
about 1 100, the work may have been
interrupted by civil war and not com-
pleted until after 1108 : Cox and Serjeant-
ton, op. cit. 23-15.
' ' lo extending the church in 1861
a tile pavement »as discovered outside
tlie then east end, showing that the
church had formerly extended further
eastward ' : ibid. 54.
' The outer aisle may have been taken
down in 1634, the churchwardens'
accounts showing that a considerable
amount of work was done in that year, and
a vestry resolution indicates that it was
chiefly on the north aisle. All east
of the Round fell into disuse except for
parochial purposes of a quasi-civil nature.
The communion table wat brought into
the Round, which ultimately became
filled with seats and pews : ibid. 54.
* The restoration of the church was
first considered in 1845, but nothing was
done till 1851, when it wat undertaken
«t a memorial to the lecond Marquis of
Northampton, though the work of enlarge-
ment was not begun until i860. The
building was re-opened in August 1864.
The pews and galleries in the Round were
removed at this time : ibid. 70-71.
' The north aisle is now used at a
morning chapel, and the south aisle it
the Warriort' Memorial Chapel.
* The greater dimention is from west
to east.
' Probably in 1739 : Cox and Serjeant-
son, op. cit. 61. Before i860 there were
only two windows in the south wall with
a doorw.iy between, the position of which
may still be seen below the middle window.
* The church of the Holy Sepulchre,
Jerusalem, is 67 ft. in diameter, the Temple
Church, London, 58 ft., Cambridge 41 ft.,
and Little Maplestead 26 ft. Garway,
in Herefordshire, «here only the founda-
tions remain, was 43 ft. 9 in .
45
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
facing west being probably occupied by a doorway
and shallow porch. During the restoration the
foundations of a south porch were found, slightly
exceeding the present porch in dimensions, which
may have been a later 1 2th century addition covering a
doorway then inserted.*
The piers of the arcade are plain masonry cylinders
averaging 3 ft. 9 in. in diameter, but their capitals
and bases differ. The four western piers have cir-
cular scalloped capitals, with plain circular chamfered
abaci and moulded bases on low square plinths.
In the two easternmost piers the abaci are square,
the capitals merely shaped, \vith plain angle orna-
ments, and the high square plinths are of two stages,
while the intermediate piers (at the north-east
and south-east angles of the octagon) have divided
square abaci and capitals with scalloping on each
face. Nearly all traces of the groined roof of the aisle
were removed during the alterations at the end of
the 14th century, but there is evidence of the general
direction of the sustaining ribs, whilst a single Norman
wallshaft, with capital, still remains to the north of
the west entrance.*" Of the original round arches
of the arcade and the triforium above them, nothing
is left, the present acutely pointed arches of a single
chamfered order and the wall above them being part
of the late 14th century reconstruction. A stone
bench originally ran all round the circumference of
the Round, but, save for a small portion to the north
of the entrance to the chancel, it has now disappeared.
The 1 2th century chancel was placed somewhat
irregularly with its axis about 2 ft. to the north
of that of the circular nave, and incHning slightly
to the south. Considerable portions of its north
and south 1* walls, about 36 ft. in length, through which
the later arcades have been cut, have been retained,
and in the north wall over the later arches, are the
remains of three original round-headed windows,
uncovered during the restoration. Of these the
westernmost is the least injured, its west jamb
being still in position as well as eight of the voussoirs,**
but of the others only portions of the heads remain.
The chancel, therefore, appears to have been lighted
by three windows on each side placed high in the wall
in the usual way, and there was probably a small
doorway in the south wall.*' Considerable portions
of the original external corbel tables still remain
at the top of the walls facing the aisles, consisting of
moulded stones and grotesque heads, though that
on the south side has been raised and tlie position
of the heads changed.'* Sufficient evidence came to
light during the restoration to prove that the 12th
century chancel was not square ended, though the
exact position of the apse could not be definitely
traced.*' At the west end the walls are built up
against the Round without bonding.*'
About 1180-90 a pointed*' doorway of two un-
moulded orders and hoodmould, on single nook-shafts
with water-leaf capitals and moulded bases, was inserted
in the north wall of the Round, necessitating the
removal of one of the windows, and a lancet was
substituted for the one next to it on the west, the
splay of which is directed obliquely to the east in
order to light the doorway. The addition of an aisle,
or chapel, to the chancel was effected about the same
time by the piercing of its north wall** with two
pointed arches of two chamfered orders, which spring
from a cylindrical middle pier to which is attached
on each of its cardinal faces a cluster of small circular
shafts, and from half-round responds, with small
flanking shafts to the outer orders. The arches
have hoodmoulds on both sides, and the character
of the pier and its moulded capital and base is fairly
well advanced, but the separate carved capitals of the
responds are of earlier transitional type with incurved
volutes and foliation. The chapel was dedicated to
St. Thomas of Canterbury*' and St. John Baptist,
and on each side of its east window was a carved
image bracket supported respectively by the heads of
a bearded king and a bishop with low mitre. These,
in a more or less mutilated state, arc now at the east
end of the north chancel aisle, to where also the
window has been moved. It consists of three plain
graded lancets beneath a containing hoodmould and
appears to be rather later in date than the arcade ;
in the same wall, south of the altar, is built a 13th
century round-headed piscina, which no doubt
formerly belonged to the original north chapel.'*
The outer north aisle appears to have been added
about 1275, the new arcade consisting of three arches
of two chamfered orders with hoodmould on each side,
on clustered piers and half-round responds with
moulded capitals and bases."* Attached to the
eastern respond is a pillar piscina the marble shaft
and basin of which are copied from 13th century
fragments found during the restoration.
It has been suggested that the nearness of occupied
secular buildings on the south side of the 12th century
' The position of the buttresses, which
formerly were continued to the ground,
preclude the idea that the porch wai
part of the original design of the Round :
Cox and Scrjcantson, op. cit. 40.
'^ The original wall-shafts were double :
a sectional stone of this double-shafting,
as well as a double capital, is preserved
amongst the Norman fragments in the
church. During the restoration a con-
siderable number of fragments of these
shafts, capitals and ribs came to light ;
ibid. 36.
" This was the opinion of Cox and
Scrjcantson, but the decreased thickness
of the south wall (30 in. as again&t 4^ in.
on the north side) may indicate that the
original wall was removed when the aisle
was added.
"The bottom of the jamb i( about
8 ft. above the floor, some 2 ft. below the
springing of the later arch.
" This is suggested by a small sculptured
stone shaped like a tympanum now pre-
served in the Round, which may have
formed the head of this doorway. It is
too small for the west entrance of the
Round. The sculpture is of the ruder
sort of Norman work and apparently is
intended to represent the contest between
good and evil for a human soul. A reptile-
headed demon with long tail lays hold of
the right arm of a human figure, on \Those
left is a smaller and younger figure. The
tympanum is figured in Cox and Serjeant-
son, op. cit. 39.
" On the north side the corbel table
is in its original position 21 ft. from the
ground : ibid. 39.
" Ibid. 39.
'• Ibid. 40.
" Internally it is round headed.
■' The arcade begins about 7 ft. cast of
the Round, as docs also the later south
46
arcade. Before the enl.irgement there
was an approximately equal length of
wall at the cast end.
" Trom this it has been conjectured
that the chapel was added, or begun to
be built, by the second Simon of Scniis
carl of Northampton who died 1 184. in
order to provide a fit altar for the com-
mcmor.ition of the murdered archbishop :
Cox and Serjcantson, op. cit. 42.
"* There is a 13th-century image bracket
built into the wall at the west end of the
outer north aisle, the mouldinga of which
are worked diagonally on to a foliated
Bvipport : its original position was probably
in an uii^le of the original north aisle :
ibid. 43, where it is figured.
" When the outer aisle was pulled
down in the 17th century the arcade was
built up and covered over. It was
opened out at the time of the restora-
tion.
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BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
chancel was the reason of the addition of the outer
north aisle,** but however that may be a south aisle
was thrown out in the 14th century, when an arcade
of two pointed arches of two orders was made,
the inner order with a half-round moulding and
the outer chamfered, springing from a square pier
chamfered at the angles and from responds of similar
type with moulded capitals and high chamfered
plinths. Eighteenth century repairs and modern
restoration have left little original work in the south
aisle,*' but a piscina niche with plain pointed head
remains in the usual position at the east end of
the south wall, and an image bracket supported by
a human head is now built into the east wall of the
new south chancel chapel.
The late 14th century alterations to the Round
included not only the rebuilding of its upper part,
but the destruction of the original west doorway and
the wall on either side consequent on the erection of
the tower, the insertion of three large three-light
pointed windows, two on the south side and one on the
north,** the strengthening of the north wall by two
large buttresses, the rebuilding of the south porch and
insertion of a new doorway, and the reconstruction**
of the arches from the Round into the eastern part of
the church. The main structural change, however,
was the rebuilding of the clearstory in its present
octagonal form, the disappearance of the triforium,
and the removal of the groined roof of the ambulatory
and of the round arches of the arcade. The clearstory
has a square-headed two-hght window on each of its
cardinal faces, plain parapet and pyramidal leaded
roof.
There is an ascent of five steps** from the Round to
the present nave, the arch to which consists of two
chamfered orders, the inner springing from half-round
responds with moulded capitals and bases, the outer
continuous. The arches opening to the aisles are
of three chamfered orders, with half-octagonal
responds, the two outer orders being continuous.
The nave appears to have been re-roofed at this time*'
and a small three-light square-headed window*'
placed in the west gable over the entrance to the
Round. Six wooden corbels supporting the new roof
principals have sur\'ived, three on each side, carved
with figures plajnng musical instruments — on the
north rebec, bagpipe, and portative organ, on the
south hurdy-gurdy, kettle-drums, and panpipes.
.\nother with harp player is now above the chancel
arch on the south side.**
The south doorway of the Round is sharply pointed
and of three continuous unmoulded orders, with plain
segmental rear-arch, and the outer doorway of the
porch of two continuous chamfered orders with
hoodmould. There is a descent of three steps from
the porch to the floor of the Round, and of two steps
from the Round to the tower. The tower arch is of
four chamfered orders, the inner on half-octagonal
responds with moulded capitals and bases, the others
continued or dying into the wall.
Cut into the wall on the south-east of the Round
and probably contemporary with the late 14th century
alterations, is a banner-stave locker nearly n ft. in
height,** the upper part of which, with pointed head,
is carried on through one of the blocked triforium
windows. On the outside of the wall, to the west of
the porch, is an arched sepulchral recess 8 ft. 5 in.
v\idc, probably constructed for some benefactor at
the time of the erection of the tower. The two-
centred arch is without hoodmould and consists
of a single ornamented chamfered order."-
The tower is divided externally into six stages by
stringcourses which run round and mark the begin-
ning of each set-off of the diagonal buttresses. Owing
to the fall of the ground the western buttresses are of
unusual size, having a projection of 10 ft. and a width
of over 3 ft. At the south east angle is a vice turret,
which is carried up to the level of the base of the bell-
chamber windows where it slopes back behind an
embattled parapet. The west doorway is of four
continuous moulded orders, with hoodmould, and
above it is a two-hght window. The deeply-recessed
bell-chamber windows are of two trefoiled lights with
quatrefoil in the head, round which the upper string-
course is taken as a hoodmould. The tower finishes
with a battlemented parapet and had originally
pinnacles at the angles : on the north and south
sides respectively are two gargoyles. The octagonal
spire has plain angles and three tiers of pointed
lights in the cardinal faces.^*
At the enlargement in 1860-64 ^^e nave and aisles
were increased in length some 6 ft. and an additional
arch added at the east end of the main arcades. The
new chancel is of two bays, with projecting semi-
circular east end and moulded arches on shafted
piers to the side chapels,*^ all the work internally
being of a rather elaborate character in the style of
the late 13th century. There is a turret at the
junction of the south chapel and aisle with a stair
leading on to the roof. A new altar was erected in
l882.«
The font is modern and stands on three circular
steps in the middle of the Round ; it is a memorial
to Canon James, who took an active part in the restora-
tion, and is copied from the 13th century font in the
cathedral of Hildesheim, save that the figures sup-
porting the bowl are knights in mail. The font
replaced a small circular stone basin, probably dating
■' Cox and Strje.mtson, op. cit. 43.
" The window! have been reitored
in the style of the 14th century, the middle
one being entirely modem.
•• The mullions and tracery of these
window* were removed during the i8th
century, probably about 17S1 (Cox and
Serieantion, op. cit. 61), .ind in their
present form arc modem.
•• It it possible that the entrances to
the aisles may have been now first con-
structed.
•• The difference of level is z ft. 8 in.
" Cox and Serjeantson were of opinion
th»t the south wall of the south aisle
was also then reconstructed and that a new
five-light window was placed in the east
end of the chancel : op. cit. 46. This
window, with vertical tracery, is shown in
a south-east view of the church, 1761.
The east window of the south aisle was
then square-headed and of three lights.
" The middle light contains some 14th
century glass brought from the destroyed
Hospital of St. Thomas, including a
scroll inscribed, ' Ave Maria gratia plena."
This it the only ancient glass in the
church.
•* Cox and Serjeantson, op. cit. 47-41),
where the corbels are figured.
47
'" The width is 12 in. and the
depth at the base 2 ft. 3 in. The
opening has a rebate all round of about
3 in.
" The recess seems never to have been
used for burial : reasons for ascribing its
construction to Sir Thomas Latimer, who
died in 1401, are given by Cox and
Serjeantson, op. cit. 124.
•^ The total height of tower and spire
is 116 ft.
■' The arches are filled with wooden
screens erected in 1880.
'* Designed, at were the screens, by
Mr. J. nidrid Scott.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
from 1660, the shaft of which is preserved in the
churchyard.** The wooden pulpit is modern, on a
stone base.
A number of fragments of 12th and 13th century
ornamented coffin lids have been preserved ; four
of these are in the Round, and others are built into
the walls at the west end of the outer north aisle and
in the east wall of the north chancel chapel.
In the Round, now against the north wall, is a
floor slab^ with five quadrangular brass plates and
border inscription,*' in memory of George Coles
(d. 1640) and his two wives. In the upper plate he
is represented standing between them giving a hand
to each, and is bareheaded, with falhng collar, doublet
and hose, and a short cloak ; the wives are in bodiced
gowns and wear wide neck ruffs and high crowned
hats. Below are smaller plates with two groups of
children, three by the first wife and nine by the second,
and under these again an emblem of clasped hands,
explained in eight lines of verse below.
Amongst a large number of mural monuments^
are memorials to members of the families of Fleetwood
(1676-1747), Churchill (1750-1803), Woolston (1705-
1775), Thompson (1786-1893), and others.
A wall painting in the Round exposed in 1843 has
since disappeared, the walls having been stripped,
but there are traces of another on the splay of the
blocked westernmost window of the 12th century
chancel.**
There is a scratch dial built bottom upwards into
the south-east angle of the porch about 7 ft. from the
ground.*"
An oak lych gate was erected in 1888 at the west
entrance to the churchyard in Sheep Street.
There is a ring of eight bells, seven of which were
recast in 1927 by Gillett and Johnson, of Croydon ;
the old bell (now seventh) was cast by Henry Bagley
of Chacomb in l68l.*'- A clock is first mentioned in
1634 ; the present clock was erected in 1882.
The plate is all modern with the exception of a
17th century pewter flagon, and four pewter plates
made bv Thomas King of London in 1675.*^
The earliest registers are as follows : (i) baptisms
1571-1574, 1577-1600, 1606-1722, marriages 1566-
1722,** burials 1571-1722,** (ii) baptisms and burials
1723-1778, marriages 1723-1754. The churchwardens'
accounts and vestry books begin in 1634.
Built into the wall of a house^ at the south-west
corner of the churchyard is a stone of cruciform
shape, with a rudely carved figure of our Lord on
the Cross, probably a gable termination on some
part of the church at the time of the building of the
tower.*'
The church of ALL SAINTS stands in the centre
of the town on an island site bounded on the north by
Mercers' Row, on the south by George Row, on the
'.vest by the Drapery, and on the east by Wood Hill.
It was originally a cruciform structure consisting of
aisled chancel, central tower, north and south tran-
septs, and clearstoried nave with north and south
aisles, the oldest parts of which appear to have dated
from the 12th centuiy. The destruction of the
medieval fabric in the fire of 1675 was so complete
that only the tower and a small crypt below the
chancel were preserved. These are incorporated in
the present building, erected in 1676-80 in the
Renaissance style of the day, which consists of chancel,
rectangular nave, and west tower flanked by north and
south transepts. It stands on the site of the chancel
of the medieval church, the whole of which west of
the tower was destroyed, a small churchyard being
theie formed and the rest of the space thrown into the
roadway.
There is no authentic drawing of the church as it
was before 1675, but Speed's map (1610) shows a
cruciform building with central tower, and a picture
made in 1669 by one of the artists accompanying
Duke Cosmo III of Tuscany indicates a long nave of
seven bays with west gable flanked by turrets or
pinnacles.*' In a descripticn of the old and new
churches by Henry Lee, town clerk in 1675, the writer
states that the old chancel was ' very large with great
stalls and large desks before them on the north and
south sides, and on the west side very gentile pews
with desks before them to lean upon,' and he quotes a
saying that the church was ' as large as some cathe-
drals.' At its west end were ' very stately gates at
the entiance and a veiy high and large window.'
There were ' three aisles,' and in 26 Henry VIII
(1534-5) 'the middle roof was made and raised very
high and lofty.' On the middle of the church wall
was a chapel erected by Mr. Neale (mayor in 15 39),
' very finely built with white stone,' and there was ' a
south porch very great and large and over it was a
large room in which the spiritual court was held.'
There is also mention of a tomb and vault built in
1585 'in the place called the Lady Chapel in the
chancel,' and of ' an old strong building adjoining to
" The baiin l« buried beneath the
prcient font.
" The ilab ' has been moved several
times within the memory of man, so
that it is difficult to say what was its
original position ' : Cox and Scrjcantson,
op. cit. 88.
•' The inscription reads, ' Here rcsteth
ye body of Mr. George Coles of North-
ampton w'h his 2 wives Sarah and Eleanor
by whom he had iz children. He gave
to pious uses xi' yearely for ever to this
towne and deceased y" first of January
1640.'
•• ' At the time of the restoration of
the church the mural monuments were
all taken down, and much carelessness
and thoughtlessness characterised the
refiling.' Cox and Serjeantson, op. cit.
89, where all the inscriptions are given.
•• Ibid. 67.
*" It is a complete circle, with a per-
pendicular and a horizontal line cutting
across it, and radiating lines iii three of
the right angles thus formed.
"Till 1898 there were six bells, of
which Bagley's remaining bell w.is the
fourth, two trebles by Mears and Stain-
bank in commemoration of Queen
Victoria's Jubilee, and dated 1897, being
then added. In the 1927 recasting
Bagley's bell, then sixth, became the
seventh. Another of the old bells was
dated 1681, the tenor 1733, the treble
1739, and two others 1805 and 1857
respectively. The inscriptions are given
in North, Ch. Bells of i\'orlhjnli, 349,
*' The modern plate consists of a silver
chalice parcel gilt, and a silver paten of
1879, and a silver gilt chalice and paten
of 1884. Of the plates two arc inscribed
' Saintse Pulkers,' and llie odifrs ' S.iint
48
Scplkers' and 'Saint Sepulkers' respec-
tively.
*^ October 1648-November 1651 miss-
ing, a leaf being torn out.
'* No entries for 1575 and 1576.
** In north end wall of no. 68 Sheep
Street, facing the churchyard.
*" Cox and Serjeantson, op. cit. 120,
where it is figured. The sculpture is
repeated on the other side of the stone-
[Northants N. and Q. ii, 240) which
measures 19 in. across the arms and about
20 in. in height.
•' A sketch of this drawing is reproduced
in Rev. R. M. Serjcantson's Hut. oj Ch. oj
All Saintt, Northampi. (1901), 160, but
its architectural veracity is open to c|uei-
tion, especially as regards the tower,
which is shown with open arches. Mr.
Serjcantson's book has been used in the
following (ic-S( ription of the church.
Northampton : All Saints' Church : The Interior, looking East
Northampton : All Saints' Church from thk South-east
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
the south side of the chancel reported to be formerly
a chapel,' in which were the stairs to the crypt.**
No evidence has been found of pre-Conquest worl;,
and though no architectural remains or fragments of
I2th century date have come to light, there seems
some reason to believe that the core of the pillars
supporting the tower is of that period.** From the
Bishop of Lincoln's grant in 1 232 of an indulgence of
twenty da; s to contributors to the work of All Saints'*
it may be assumed that a considerable amount of
the building was mainly of this period," the changes
in the 15th century being those already mentioned,
together with the introduction of pointed arches
below tlie original tower openings. The church was
'greatly in decay' in January 1594-5, and in the
following March much damage was done by a storm,
' many large stones being blown en to the leads '
and through the roof 'just over the mayor's seat.' **
In 1617 considerable repairs were done to the tower,**
and eithor then or a few years later the 15th century
3:
Organ
Chamber
m
Chancel
mm^M^
««
iiiwSik^al
War Memorial
Chapel
3:
IE
I05__0
10
20
30
40
50
Scale of Feet
W
121!) Century
Pre 1675
^l676-80
Eai70l
CH Modern
Plan of All Saints' Church, Northampton
-x>
building was at that time in progress, perhaps the
reconstruction of the Norman church ; but whatever
the nature of the work then done it probably con-
tinued for many years aftet Bishop Wells's death in
1235, though no remains of distinctly 13th century
masonry have been found. The church, however,
appears to have undergone a variety of alterations and
adaptations during the 14th and two succeeding
centuries." The existing crypt, below the western
part of the chancel, is of the early 14th century, and
the upper part of the tower seems to be very little
later. Pieces of jamb and mullion stones recovered
from crypt excavations'* were all of the 14th century,
and it is not unlikely that at the time of its destruction
arches were built up and the existing narrow arches
on the north, east and south sides constructed.**
There were repairs at the west end in 1624, in the
chancel in 1632, and of a more general character in
1633-5"; '" 1667 the roof of the south aisle of the
chancel was ' very ruinous and out of repair.'
The new church was opened in September 1680,
but was not completed in its present form till the
beginning of the 1 8th century.** The great west
portico was erected in 1701, and the cupola and vane
added to the tower in 1704. A gallery was erected on
the north side of the nave in 1 714, but it was not until
1 81 5 that the south gallery was set up.** The church
was partially restored in 1 840,*' and more extensively
*• Strjeantson, op. cit. 245-6.
•» Ibid. 236. " Ibid. 16. " Ibid. 236.
" During alterations in 1886.
" Thii wai the opinion of Mr. Matthew
Holding, architect, quoted by Serjeantion,
139.
" Serjeantion, op. cit. 243 : 'A great
part of the church ii fallen down by
meant of the great wind that happened
on TbuitJay lait (March 20).'
" Ibid. 244.
" Mr. Holding dated theit arches from
about 1619, when it is recorded that ' this
year the congregation of All Saints was
afraid the church would have fallen in
sermon time.'
" Scrjcantson, op. cit. 244. In Novem-
ber 1658 it was ordered that the church-
wardens ' do take and weigh the lead that
came oB the chapel of the Lady Mary and
49
other the materials thereof except the
walls and what else may be useful for
the church, and make sale of them.'
" Ibid. 247.
" At the west end a gallery nas erected
in 1806 on each side of the organ, which
had been placed there in 1700.
•» It was closed for five weeks : the
tower was restored ' in a subsuntial
manner.'
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
in 1865-6 when the galleries were reduced in width,*^
the seating cut down 15 in. in height, and made to
face wholly east, the chancel screen removed and the
position of the pulpit altered.*^ In 1883 an organ
chamber was built on the north side of the chancel,*^
and in 1920 a War Memorial Chapel** was erected on
the south side. The tower was restored and refaced
in 1928.
Of the older parts of the fabric something has
already been said about the tower, the lower part of
which appears to incorporate much 12th century
masonry, though no architectural features of that
period are now visible. Internally, the tower is
12 ft. II in. square on the ground floor, with walls
5 ft. 6 in. thick, except on the west side where the
thickness is increased by the 17th century facing.
There is a vice in the north-west angle. The original
openings appear to have been 11 ft. 3 in. wide, and
there is some reason to believe that the four lofty semi-
circular arches in the upper part of the ringing
chamber are ancient.*^ The inserted 15th century
arches spring from half-octagonal responds with
moulded capitals at a height of about 24 ft. above the
floor,** but in their turn ai e filled on three sides by the
e.\isting low and narrow 17th century aiches of four
orders. The levels of the different floors have been
alteied from time to time. The vice projects as a
half-octagonal turret to the level of the bell-chamber
stage, and has a pointed doorway now giving on to the
roof of the transept.*' The bell-chamber has on
each side a pointed window of two trefoiled lights
with elongated quatrefoil in the head** and low tran-
som, the windows being recessed within wide two-
centred moulded arches. The top of the tower with
its balustraded parapet belongs to the 17th century
rebuilding.
The cr^pt is under the western part of the present
chancel and extends about 4 ft. below the nave. It
was originally 22 ft. 10 in. square internally, covered
with a vault of four quadripartite compartments, with
longitudinal and transverse chamfered ribs foiming
pointed arches, springing from a central octagonal pier
and responds with moulded capitals and bases. The
ribs spring at a height of about 6 ft. above the floor,
the lotal height of the crypt having been about 14 ft.,
but the floor is now considerably raised. In the east
wall are two small rectangulai windows, now blocked,
and the diagonal angle buttresses show that the
medieval chancel ended here, the 17th century
chancel being erected about 16 ft. eastward. The
crypt has undergone considerable alteration and has
long housed the heating apparatus. Many of its
original features are mutilated or destroyed, and its
size is reduced to about 18 ft. by ig ft.**
.4s rebuilt in 1676-80" the church may be said to
follow the Greek cross plan used by Wren at St. Mary-
at-Hill, the area enclosed being here a rectangle
72 ft. 2 in. long by 68 ft. 9 in. in width, the super-
structure of which is formed into a cross by tlie
grouping of vaulted ceilings round a central dome.
Four tall stone columns with enriched Ionic capitals,'*
standing on high pedestals, carry a dentilled cornice,
above which spring segmental plaster vaults spanning
the four arms of the cross, but, instead of intersecting
in a groin, they are treated as arches and carry a
cupola or dome resting on pendentives. The four
compartments at the angles of the building have flat
ceilings, which form abutments to the arched roofs,
or vaults, covering the arms of the cross. The dome
is lighted by a lantern. Above the capitals of the
pillars the whole construction is of wood, with
elaborate plaster ceilings, the general effect being of
much dignity and beauty.
The chancel measures internally 33 ft. by 24 ft.,
and was lighted by a large five-light east window and
by two windows in the side walls. The east window
is now blocked by a classic teredos erected in 1888,
occupying the whole of the end wall, the principal
feature of which is a large painted panel of the Cruci-
fixion'* flanked by coupled Corinthian columns
supporting an entablature and lofty semicircular
canopy. One of the windows on the north side has
been displaced by the organ chamber, and those on
the south have been shortened so as to clear the roof
of the War Memorial Chapel. The elaborate moulded
plaster ceiling of the chancel is contemporary with
the rebuilding, but the ornament on the walls dates
only from 1888, in which year also the arch to the
nave was remodelled, its curve improved, and sup-
porting Ionic columns and entablature introduced."
Externally, the 17th century work is faced with
ironstone ashlar, with plinth and cornice, and the
windows are all round-headed, with pseudo-Gothic
tracery. The north and south arms of the cross and
the east end of tlie chancel are slightly advanced
and have large five-light windows and curved pedi-
" They originally extended the full
width of the aislei, in line with the pillars :
they were »et back 5 ft.
•" The church wai re-opened in October
1S66. There had been much intra-mural
burial : before the seats were reconstructed
the floors were taken up, the graves
arched over or covered with stone
slabs, and the whole area within the walls
laid with a bed of concrete ; Scrjeantson,
op. cit. 252. A small crypt, or bonehousc,
under the middle part of the south aisle,
was filled up at this lime : ibid. 242.
•• In the angle formed by the nave
and chancel the walls of which were
advanced and the windows re-used. The
organ was at this time moved from the
writ gallery.
*• Designed by Arthur C. Blomfield and
A. J. Driver, .irchitects, London. It is
entered from the east end 0/ the south
aisle of ihe nave.
''■' This was the opinion of Mr. Holding.
The arches are about 30 ft. to the spring-
ing. Portions of late 12th century
moulding in the angles of the tower,
10 ft. from the ground, were thought by
Sir Henry Dryden to be the impost
mouldings of low arches. The difficult
problem of the tower is discussed
at length in Serjeantson, op. cit. 237-
240.
" Ibid. 239.
"' A small fragmentof weather moulding
against the turret indicates the height
of the roof of the old north transept : ibid.
240.
" The tracery is modern, but is said to
reproduce the old design.
•• Serjeantson, op. cit. 241, where there
is a lengthy description of the crypt by
Sir Henry Dryden, from notes taken
during the alterations in 1886. The
vault is mutilated at the west end tu maki-
50
room for the pavement of the cast end of
the 17th century nave. The entrance
eccms to have been originally from the
outside, on the south of the chancel.
•" It is said to have been designed
by Henry G. Jones, architect, of North-
ampton.
' * The capitals bear the emblems of the
four Evangelists in the hollows of the
abaci.
" The panel is let into the recess of the
window. Two large paintings of Moses
and Aaron, together with the Decalogue,
Creed, and Lord's Prayer, formerly at the
east end of the chancel, were removed to
the west gallery when the rcredos was
erected. The paintings arc attributed,
probably erroneously, to Sir Godfrey
Kncller : Scijcantson, op. cit. 264.
'* It was originally quite plain ; the
pilaitert in the nave also dale from this
period.
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
raents, the other windows in nave and chancel being
of three lights. There are elliptical windows in the
nave pediments, and the roofs are leaded. The
dome sits on a square base.
The transepts are internally about 31 ft. long by
20 ft. in width, and have straight dcntilled pediments
and five-hght end windows. They contain the
gallery staircases and vestries,'* and in the south
transept the Consistory Court : they also form
vestibules, with lofty round-headed outer doorways
opening on to the portico. The smaller west door-
way of the tower is flanked externally by semicircular
wall recesses. The great oct.istyle portico covers the
west end of the building to within about 8 ft. of
the ends of the transepts : it is two columns deep
and the Ionic order is used. The entablature is
surmounted by a balustrade with urn ornaments,
in the centre of which are the Royal Arms and a statue
of Charles II in Roman costume and long flowing
wig, added in 1 71 2. Along the frieze is the inscrip-
tion : ' This statue was erected in memory of King
Charles II, who gave a thousand tons of timbei
towards the rebuilding of this church, and to this
town seven years' cliimney money collected in it.
John Agutter, mayor, 1 712.'
The white marble chalice font was the gift in
1680 of Thomas WiUoughby."
The carved 17th century pulpit stood from 1 81 5
till 1866 in front of the altar below the chancel arch,
but was then removed to its present position on the
north side : it was altered in 1888 and a new base
provided." The removal of the 17th century chancel
screen is to be deplored : its carved pilasters, pedi-
ment and Royal Arms have been worked up in the
three western doorways of the nave.'' The mayor's
seat has a carved and panelled back surmounted by the
arms of the town and is inscribed 'Anno Majoratus
20 Ricard White. Anno Dom. 1680.'
The only monument apparently'* older than 1675
is a marble tablet at the west end of the south aisle
in memory of John Travell (d. 1669). T'^^ '^^^^
monuments include tablets to Dr. John Conant,
vicar (d. 1693); Dr. Daniel Danvers (d. 1699);
John Bailes (d. 1706), who ' was above 126 years old
and had his hearing, sight, and memory to the last ' ;
Isabella Stewart, daughter of John Haldane of Lan-
rick and widow of the Jacobite leader Charles Stewart
of Ardsheal, who died at the Peacock Inn, Northamp-
ton, 8 .'^pril 1782 ; Sir John Stonhouse, oart., founder
of the County Infirmary (d. 1795), and others." A
record of the monument of Francis Samwell, erected in
1585, has been preserved, and also of upwards of a
hundred coats of arms taken from stained glass or
from monuments in the church at the beginning of
the 17th century.**
There is a ring of eight bells by Chapman and Meats,
of London, 1782.*^ In 1829 the corporation presented
a clock and new set of chimes by John Briant of
Hertford.**
The plate consists of a set of two cups and cover
patens, two breadholders, two flagons and two alms
dishes of 1677, given in that year by ' Mrs. Mary
Reynolds, relict of Edward, late Lord Bishop of
Norwich ' ; a cup and strainer spoon of 1718 ; a cup
of 1740; two cups of 1888, and a small plain paten.
There is also a plated set of seven pieces.*'
The registers before 18 1 2 are as follows : (i)
baptisms 1560-1722, marriages 1559-1721, burials
1559-1722, (ii) baptisms and burials 1721-1812,
marriages 1721-1754, (iii) marriages 1754.-1S12. There
is also a series of Vestry Books from 1620.
Interments in the churchyard west of the portico
were prohibited in 1857, and in 1871, with a view to
widening the lower end of The Drapery a portion of
the yard was cut off. Originally enclosed by low fence
walls on the north and south and by an iron grille
on the west, the churchyard was afterwards bounded
by a low wall and chains ; these remained until 1926,
when the whole space was added to the roadway and
the existing steps to the portico formed. An octa-
gonal conduit, which stood at the south-west angle of
the churchyard, was taken down in 1831 ; it is said
to have been of 14th century date.** A war memorial
in the churchyard, designed by Sir Edward Lutyens,
was unveiled by Gen. Lord Home on 1 1 Nov. 1926.
The church of ST. GILES consists of chancel
42 ft. by 25 ft. 6 in. with north and south chapels,
central tower 17 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 6 in., clearstoried
nave of five bays 68 ft. 6 in. by 21 ft., north and south
aisles respectively 14 ft. 6 in. and 15 ft. 8 in. wide,
outer north aisle of four bays 14 ft. 9 in. wide, and
north and south porches, all these measurements
being internal. The tower is flanked on the north
and south by continuations of the aisles representing
former transepts. Including the outer north aisle
the total internal width of this building is 74 ft. 6 in.
The south chancel chapel is now the organ chamber,
and the vestry is in the space south of the tower.
The building is faced with dressed ironstone and
has plain parapets throughout ; the porches are tiled,
but elsewhere the roofs are leaded.
The architectural history of the building may be
briefly summarized as follows : as originally built
early in the 12th century it was an aisleless cross
church with central tower, the lower part of which
remains. Early in the 13th century the chancel was
rebuilt, lengthened and increased in width on the
north side, and later in the same century the south
arcade of the nave was begun, with the intention
of adding aisles, but was temporarily abandoned.
The tower was strengthened at the same time by
blocking up its four arches and building narrower
"'* In the north transept a clergy vcetry
on the ground floor with choir practice
room above, in the louth transept a
temporary choir vestry.
'* It is inscribed ' Donum Thomae
Willoughby armigeri Ecclesiz Omnium
Sanctorum in Northon.'
" Serjeantson, op. cit. 261.
" Ibid 252.
" It is possible that this monument may
have been erected after the fire.
" Serjeantson, op. cit. 277-297, where
the inscriptions on all the monuments are
given. Certain of the tablets were re-
moved from the ch.Tncel to other parts of
the church in 1888.
'° Ibid. 278-280, where the Samwell
monument and some pieces of heraldic
glass are figured, taken from the Belcher
MS. in the Bodleian Library (Lansd.
MSS. 213, col. 379).
" North, Cb. Brils of Ncritanls, 344,
where the inscriptions are given. Before
51
1782 there were six bells, which appear
to have been by Bagley.
" Serjeantson, op. cit., 273. The date
1829 is on the west face of the tower above
the clock ; chimes had been presented
by the Corporation in the reign of Eliza-
beth, and a * new pair of chimes * was
erected in 1628. The chimes were
renewed in 1651 and 1680: ibid.
275-6.
" Markham, Cb. Plate of Norlbants 199.
'* Serjeantson, op. cit. 302.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
arches within, of which those on the north and south
still remain. In the first half of the 14th century the
chancel was repaired, its east wall rebuilt, a chapel
added on the north side, and the aisles and arcades
of the nave (of three bays) completed ; the aisles
were afterwards continued eastward on the site of the
transepts,** the work being finished about 1350-60.
The chapel south of the chancel was finished in its
present form later in the century, the church then
assuming the plan it retained till the middle of the
19th century. In 1613 the tower fell, demolishing
outer order, the greater part of the hoodmould, and
the moulded bases of the shafts only are original,
the rest being a modern reconstruction. The
doorway is of three orders all with chevcron ornament,
the two outer on shafts with enriched cushion and
scalloped capitals, the inner continuous : the hood-
mould is enriched with a reticulated pattern. The
smaller round-headed north doorway is of two un-
moulded orders, but the jambs and imposts are
modern. The new east and west arches of the tower
represent the original openings in dimensions if not
"^^
Porch ^
-^^r
JI
,>^^^
<?
Outer North Aisle ^
3" v::;q : :'":s$':':::]o
■ 12™ Century illSUi Century late
□ 121!! Century late ^142 Cent. first half
ISIB Century early ^142! Cent. third quarteu,
Ei3c.l512
^ ? 1616 (doubtful)
□ Modern
S(m,fofFeet
Plan of St. Giles' Church, Northampton
or seriously injuring the north arcade of the nave,
but both were rebuilt three years later.** In 1853-5
the nave and aisl'^s were restored and extended west-
ward two bays,*' an extra north aisle added, the 13th
century fillings removed from the east and west
tower arches, the whole of the church west of the
tower re-roofed, its windows renewed and tlie porches
rebuilt.** The chancel was restored in 1876.*'
Of the 1 2th century church little remains but the
lower part of the tower and the west and north
doorways, both very much restored, which were
re-erected in their present positions at the time of the
extension. In the west doorway some stones in the
in details,** but several voussoirs and the line of the
eastern jamb of the blocked 12th century north arch
have been exposed towards the aisle.
The projecting staircase turret at the north-east
angle of the tower, entrance to which was from the
transept, appears to have been added later in the
century,*' after the completion of the cross-plan and
may at first have been intended to be external. On
its east face are three narrow windows, the lowest
round-headed, now overlooking the chancel, and the
stairway is vaulted with a winding barrel vault of
plastered rubble. The round-headed doorway on
the west side is of a single square order vrith quirked
•• The tnniepti probably itood till
thii time : if the width of the aiilo wai
conditioned by the length of the tnn-
iepti they muit have been very ihort.
•• Nothing ii known of a clearstory
until thii lime: Serjeantton, l/nl. 0/
Cb. of St. Cilti, Norihampt. 114. Prof.
Hamilton Thompion'a account of the
fabric hai htre been uied.
" Before iti extension westward, the
nive was 49 ft. in length.
'" The restoration, begun in August
1853, was carried out under the direction of
Mr. F. F'. Law, architect, after a report by
Sir Gilbert Scott. The church was re-
opened in November 1855.
" Begun in lummar of 187;, rc-opcned
Oct. 1876. Thctowcrwtsrtpairedin 1914.
52
*" Scrjcantson, op. cit. 109. They
arc of three ordcri, the two inner with
chcveron moulding on shafts and the
outrr Bquarc with hnod mould. The
tower han a Hat wooden ceiling immedi-
ately above the archci.
•' Mr. SerjeantBon'i concluiioni arc
here foUnwed, op. cit. iio.
v-^^k
-^«fr
o
o
NoRTMAMi-TON : St. (7ii,i;s' CiiuRtii : Tin: Intihior, looking r'.AST
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
hoodmould, moulded imposts** and slightly chamfered
jambs. The 12th century chancel appears to have
been little shorter than at present, as traces of a
blocked doorway of that period occur in situ in the
south wall some 12 ft. from the east end." There
is also a small rouiul-lieaded doorway, also blocked,
at the eastern extremity of the wall, which if of 12th
century date must have been originally elsewhere.
In the 13th century rebuilding of the chancel
the north wall was advanced 4 ft. and built as a
continuation of the north face of the staircase turret,**
but the line of the south wall was retained. The
new chancel appears to have consisted of three bays
divided by buttresses, with a lancet window in each,
and probably three lancets in the east wall. Of these
windows two remain entire : one in the south wall
(till lights the chancel, but the other immediately
opposite is now covered by the north chapel. West
of this, also in the north wall, is the upper part of a
third lancet, the lower portion of which was cut away
when the arch between the chancel and chapel
was pierced. These windows have rather broad
external chamfers, and hoodmoulds which are con-
tinued along the walls and round the buttresses as
strings ; there is also a string at sill level. Internally
the openings are widely splayed and moulded all
round.
The addition of aisles to the nave towards the close
of the 13th century was begun on the south side, the
first arch being cut through the wall and it? eastern
respond built about 2 ft. 6 in. west of the tower.
The intention evidently was to proceed westward
with an arcade of pointed arches of two chamfered
orders on octagonal piers with moulded capitals and
bases. Only one arch, with the pier west of it, was,
however, completed, probably on account of fears
for the safety of the tower, the tall round-headed
openings of which were therefore filled with masonry.
The existing filling on the north and south sides is
pierced by narrow acutely pointed arches of three
chamfered orders, the outer chamfer in each case
being continued down the jambs and the middle order
dying out. On the north side the inner order also
dies out, but on the south it springs from moulded
corbels supported by sculptured human heads,**
the south arch has also a fourth order towards the
aisle where the wall is thickened,** and strengthened
at its east end by a massive buttress of uncertain
date," which blocks the north jamb of the arch
between the aisle and the south chancel chapel.
The 14th century repair of the chancel included
the rebuilding of the east wall in its present form with
diagonal angle buttresses of two stages and two dwarf
buttresses below the window, and of about 3 ft.
of the east ends of the north and south walls.** The
cast window is of five trefoiled lights with reticulated
quatrefoil tracery, double chamfered jambs, and
hoodmould ending in head-stops. A new string-
course was taken round the whole chancel below the
sills of the side windows and continued round the
13th century buttresses, which were perhaps rebuilt,**
though a keel-shaped string forming a continuation
of the hoodmoulds of the lancets and taken round the
upper part of the old buttresses was retained as
far as the old material would go, and re-used on the
east wall, until broken by the hoodmould of the
window. During these alterations the gable and
roof of the chancel were reduced to their present
pitch and the parapet erected. With the refashioning
of the chancel went the building of the north and
south chapels, though the latter seems only to have
been begun. The north chapel (28 ft. hy 14 ft.)
opens from the chancel by a wide arch of three con-
tinuous chamfered orders with hoodmould, which has
the appearance of having been rebuilt or completely
finished at a later period,* and from the transept
by a lesser arch of two continuous chamfered order*
the inner of which is stopped near the ground by
mouldings, while the outer, dying into the wall on
the north side, is stopped on the south by a small
broach.* The windows of the chapel are later
insertions :' that at the east end is four-centred, of
four cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery, and
in the north wall arc three closely-placed windows,
one of two lights and the others of three hghts each,
the sill of the two-light easternmost window being
raised considerably in order to clear a 14th century
triangular headed aumbry, opposite to which, in
the usual position in the south wall, is a restored
trefoiled piscina, with modern canopy. The north
chapel appears to have been the Lady Chapel, and
was planned simply as a north aisle to the chancel,*
but the plan of a corresponding chapel, which was
begun on the south side, seems to have been modified,
and the work of completing the arcades and aisles
of the nave proceeded with. The south arcade was
first continued two bays westward, after which the
north arcade was begun from the east end, starting
about 4 ft. 6 in. from the west face of the tower.
The eastern respond is thus some 2 ft. further west
than that on the south side, with the consequence
that the positions of the piers of the two arcades
do not exactly correspond. Both western responds
were removed when the nave was lengthened, but
" The louth impost and hood hive been
restored, and the north impost and spring
of the arch cut away in the 14th century
when the adjoining arch to the chapel was
made.
•'These traces consist of the four eastern
voussoirs of a round-headed arch below
the lancet window. There has been much
disturbance in the masonry which blocks
the doorway towards the west, but the
spring of the arch is in its original
position; it is figured in Serjeantson,
op. cit. 114.
** The turret wai thus brought wholly
within the church, and in order to admit
light to the stair windows, which other-
wise would have been blocked by the new
north wall the inner comer of this wall,
at its west end, was chamfered off at the
level of each opening : ibid. 112.
•^ The carving is rather rough, but the
date is obviously about 1300 : Serjeant-
son, op. cit. 117. Drawings made in the
middle of the 19th century indicate that
the inserted east and west openings were
like that on the north.
•* The thickness of the south wall is
5 ft. 3 in., of the other 4 ft. i in.
" It ' may have been added as a pre-
caution by the 14th century builders, or
it may represent a 17th century addition ':
Serjeantson, op. cit. 127.
" The junction of the old and new work
is very noticeable, a rough and irregular
joint being formed on both sides : ibid
119.
53
•"Ibid. 120.
'Ibid. 118: 'At the base, however,
of the east jamb there remains a project-
ing moulding of early 14th century charac-
ter, and a similar moulding has been
restored on the west side.' The arch ii
now completely filled with a traceried
stone screen erected in 1896.
•This arch, as already stated, cuts into
the hoodmould of the 12th century stair
doorway, the north impost of which
seems then to have been renewed.
•An allusion to ' the new work in our
Lady Chapel ' fixes the date of the inser-
tion of these windows at 1512 : Serjeant-
son, op. cit. 128.
♦ Ibid. 121. It is now used as a Morn-
ing Chapel.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
the octagonal 14th century pier on the south side,
dividing the two original western bays, remains. It
differs from the earlier eastern pier, and from the
evidence of its masonry appears to have been height-
ened or repaired at some subsequent date." The
capital is moulded with an ogee and a swelled chamfer,*
and the base is of ogee section projecting from a high
plinth of two plain chamfers.
The north arcade is all of one build and is contem-
porary with the additions on the south side, but its
octagonal piers are lower and the arches do not reach
a corresponding height. Like those opposite, they
are of two chamfered orders and the hoods are con-
nected by horizontal mouldings. In its present form
the arcade is as rebuilt in 1616, with high chamfered
plinths to the piers, but the mouldings of the capitals
suggest a conservative reconstruction or copy of the
old work.
After the completion of the nave aisles the tran-
septs' seem to have been taken in hand and rebuilt
in their present form as eastward extensions of the
aisles, engaging the tower. The spaces thus formed
are divided from the aisles and chancel chapels by
pointed arches, and on the south side the outer wall
is a continuation of that of the aisle and contemporary
with it. East of the porch the wall is of 14th century
date, but the windows have been renewed and their
tracery is modern : they are of two trefoiled Ughts
with a quatrefoil in the head. On the north side the
aisle wall west of the transept was removed when the
outer aisle was built, but the portion immediately
north of the tower remains and contains a 14th century
window of three trefoiled lights with elongated
quatrefoil tracery.
The south chapel of the chancel appears to have
been first planned as an aisle like that opposite and
of somewhat similar dimensions, but when the walls
reached a certain height and its western arch was
pierced in the then existing transept wall fears for
the stability of the tower seem to have arisen, and as
the nave aisles approached completion a newer and
stronger arch was substituted for the earlier one,
shghtly to the east of it, affording direct abutment to
the tower and itself abutted by a strong buttress on
the outside.' At the same time the plan and elevation
of the chapel were altered and it became a kind of
transept (24 ft. by 20 ft.), with a lofty arch of three
chamfered orders' opening to the chancel and occu-
pying the whole height of the wall. The chapel roof
is at right angles to that of the chancel, with a plain
gable at the south end, below which is a large pointed
window of five cinquefoiled Ughts with vertical tra-
cery.^" The chapel is also lighted on the east side by
a square-headed window of four trefoiled hghts with
quatrefoil tracery. In the usual position in the south
wall is a piscina with trefoiled ogee head and fluted
bowl, and west of it a plain rectangular aumbry. In
the east wall, north of the window, is an image bracket
supported by a carved head, and at the west end of
the south wall is a blocked low side window with ogee
head and hoodmould terminating in a finial.'^
Above the roof the tower is of two stages and finishes
with a battlemented parapet and angle pinnacles. No
portion of a 12th century superstructure remains, but
the square turret at the north-east angle and a large
portion of the masonry on the east and south sides of
the lower stage are old. A large part of the north
and almost all the west side fell in 161 3 and at the
rebuilding the new work was bonded into the old
masonry. In this stage there is a doorway on the
east side to the roof, and a window of two trefoiled
lights on the north and south.^ The whole of the
upper stage belongs to the 17th century rebuilding,
and the nave clearstory of two-light four-centred
windows was either rebuilt or added. The bell-
chamber is lighted by double two-light pointed win-
dows on each side, with transoms, cinquefoiled heads
to each hght and quatrefoil above, the hoodmoulds
of which are joined by strings, and there is also a
stringcourse at sill level and another some 5 ft. below,
where the walls are slightly gathered in.
Set in the wall of the north arcade of the nave are
three inscriptions*^ on framed panels, recording the
17th century reconstruction in these terms : (l)
' Rob. Sibthorpe's care to God's true feare, This
downefalne church got helpe to reare 1616. Will.
Dawes, mason '; (2) ' Bp., Chanc'""' and Clergie,
nobles knights & gent : the countrie parishes. All
Sts. North'""' St. Sepulchers gave . . . without
breefes'; (3) ' 1616 John Pattison, Humf : Hopkyns,
churchward when this buil[ding] began.'
The octagonal stone font is said to be partly ot
15th century date,** but nearly all the carving is
modern.
The oak pulpit belongs probably to the second
quarter of the 17th century. It is hexagonal in shape,
with carved upper and moulded lower panels. The
balustraded stair appears to be an early 18th century
addition and the stem is modern.
There is a brass candelabrum given under the will
of Samuel Pennington, who died in 1745.
There is no ancient glas<,*^ but two chained books
' Strjcantson, Hist, of Cb. of St. Giles,
Norihampt. 121 : ' It »ccmi very likely that
the masoni abandoned, on renewing their
work, their previous plan of a tall arcade,
and built a low arch next the high one
already constructed, or, taking a new
centre for the western curve of their new
arch, dropped that cur\e upon the capital
of a lower column and so made their
western bay altogether lower in elevation
than in their original scheme. The
heightening, then, must have taken place
in the 17th century, when so much was
done to the building ; the pillar would
have been continued a few feet higher,
and the old capital, which is of the same
type of masonry as (he lower part of the
column, would have been replaced at the
higher level.' The churchwardens' ac-
counts show that something was done to .t
' piUer ' in the nave in 1628.
" Probably fifty years later than the
carefully grouped and geometrically
drawn mouldings of the eastern column
and respond' : ibid. 122.
' No trace of the 12th century transepts
remains, and their extent is purely
conjectural.
' Scrjeantson, op. cit. 126. This but-
tress covers a portion of an earlier buttress
(which took the thnist of the first arch)
the bottom of which has been cut away to
make room for a doorway in the angle of
the chapel and tower aisle.
• The two inner chamfers are hollowed,
and there is a shaft with moulded capital
on the jamb face of the innermost
order.
54
*^ The tracery and mullions of this and
the east window are modern.
" Internally it now shows as an arched
recess. The sill is 1 9 in. above the ground
outside and the opening is 4 ft. 1 in. by
I ft. 8 in. : Assoc. Ar:h. Soc. Reports,
xxix, 434.
"These windows seem to have been
reconstructed on the old lines : Serjeant-
son, op. cit. 131.
'* TTwo of these, one above the other,
arc over the first pier west of the tower ;
the third is above the third pier from
the east.
'* Scrjeantson, op. cit. 161. An old
font had, however, been removed in
1654 : ibid. 57.
" William Belcher, of Guilsborough, at
the beginning of llie Ijlh century noted
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
have been preserved : (l) Calvin's Commentary on
Isaiah, 1609, and (2) The Second Book of Homilies,
1676.
The only medieval monument that has survived
is a beautiful 15th century table tomb, ' said to have
been erected for one of the Gobion family,' ** now
against the east wall of the new north aisle.*' It is
of white alabaster, with six canopied niches on the
long side and two at the south end containing shield-
bearing angels and weepers. There is no effigy, and
the brass inscription round the verge has disappeared.
The 1 8th century mural monuments include those
of James Keill, M.D. (d. 1719), who 'opened by the
surgeon's knife a path for the physician's skill ' ;
Edmund Bateman (d. 1731), Town Attorney of
Northampton, 1689-1700; Edward VVatkin, vicar
1735-86, and his son John VVatkin, D.D., vicar
1786-95. There are also monuments to members of
the families of Goodday (1683-1797) and Woolston
(1717-1778)."
There are ten bells, two trebles having been added
in 1895 to a ring of eight cast in 1783 by Edward
Arnold, of St. Neots."
The plate is all modern and consists of a set of eight
pieces, all silver-gilt, presented in 1883 by Benjamin
Vialls : it comprises a cup, two patens and a strainer
spoon of 1876, a cup, flagon, and brcadholder of 1882
and an alms dish of 1881.*" There are also a plated
cup and five plates. Four pewter basins are exhibited
in the church.
The registers before 18 12 are as follows : (l)
bapisms, marriages, and burials 1559-1747, with
gaps 1584-87 and 1613-16 ;2* (ii) baptisms and burials
1748-1812, marriages 1748-1766; (iii) marriages
1754-1789; (iv) marriages 1789-1812. There are
churchwardens' accounts 1628-39, J^53~7o> 1683-
1709 and others till 1855.
The churches of St. Peter, the Holy
ADVOWSONS Sepulchre and All Saints arc all,
as we have seen, probably as old as
the Norman Conquest. The Priory of St. Andrew,
by the charter of Earl Simon I,** confirmed by
Henry I and Henry II,*' had the presentation of all
the churches in Northampton, and Bishop Hugh of
Lincoln's charter** specifies nine by name : All
S.iints', St. Giles', St. Michael's, Holy Sepulchre,
St. Mary's (by the Castle), St. Gregory's,*^ St.
Peter's, St. Edmund's and St. Banliolomcw's, as well
as the chapel of St. Thomas. AH these churches
then were in existence by 1200, and wc have records of
presentations to all of them by St. Andrew's priory
between 1219 and 1247.** Other churches men-
tioned in the records or by Henry Lee are St. George's
in the Castle,*' St. Lawrence's outside the North gate,
St. Catharine's in College Lane,*' St. Martin's in the
North quarter,** and, outside the liberties, St.
Leonard's in Cotton End** and St. Margaret's in St.
James' End, but it is not likely that all or most of
these were parish churches. The inquest for the
taxation of parish churches in 1428'* gives the number
of parishes as eight, naming all those of 1200 with
the exception of St. Bartholomew's. The Valor
Ecclesiasticus** also omits St. Bartholomew's as
well as St. Peter's, which was not in the gift of
St. Andrew's, but St. Lawrence's is described as a
chapel attached to the parsonage or rectory of St.
Andrew's.^ Leland says that there were seven
parish churches, two being in the suburb. It would
appear therefore that the number of parishes was
constant from 1200 to the Reformation, though other
churches may have been used for parochial purposes.
After the Reformation the ecclesiastical parishes
of Northampton were reduced to four. St. Sepulclire's
absorbed the parishes of St. Bartholomew's and
St. Michael's ; St. Giles' that of St. Edmund's ;
and All Saints' that of St. Mary's by the Castle** and
St. Gregory's, the latter by the authority of Cardinal
Pole, when the site of St. Gregory's was converted
to the use of a free school.^ In a suit as to tithes
due to the vicar of St. Giles' in 1598 it was deposed
that the parish of St. Edmund's had been deceased
for about 60 years.** The same record gives the
bounds of St. Giles' parish at the same date.*'
The four ecclesiastical parishes of Northampton
remained unaltered till the 19th century. The
smallest, St. Peter's, remains unaltered still : but
twcnt)r-four ibieldi of arms in the windows,
and a later copyist in 1614 noted twenty-
three (hields on tombs and windows.
None of these now remain. Twenty-
eight of these coats are figured in Ser-
jeantson, op. cit. 137-143.
'• Bridget, Hill, of Norihanti. y 445.
The male line of the Gobions became
extinct in 1301, but the tomb may have
belonged to one of their descendants, the
Paynell-Oobions, or the Turpyns : Scr-
ieantton, op. cit. 145.
"In Bridges' day it stood 'against the
cast end of the south cross aisle.' Serjeant-
ion, writing in 1911, says 'it has been
moved three times during the last sixty
years."
" The inscriptions on all the monu-
ments earlier than the 19th century are
given in Serjeantson, op. cit. 146-159.
'• North, Ch. Belli fj Nortbantt, 347,
where the inscriptions on Arnold's bells
are given. The two trebles are by Taylor
of Loughborough. Before 1783 there
were six bells. Quarter chimes were
added in 1845 striking on all ten bells.
The earliest reference to a clock occurs in
1633: the present clock was erected in
1865.
" Markham, Ch. Plate oj NorihanH, 203.
The older plate was stolen in 1892 : it
included a cup and paten presented in
1683, a flagon of 1735, a breadholder of
1756, and a cup of 1878.
" No marriages arc recorded in 1642,
1644, 1653-4, and no burials in 1642-44,
1647-51, and 1654-59: Serjeantson, op.
cit. 184.
" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v. 190.
"Cal.Cb.R.xv. 118.
'* Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v. 191.
" For the parochial history of St. Mary's
and St. Gregory's see R. M. Serjeantson,
Hist. 0/ the Ch. of All Saints, Northampt.
c. viii.
" Rot. Hug. de IVelles (Cant, and York
Soc), 106, 142, 149, 271 ; Rot. Rob.
Grosseteste, 177, 231.
•' The west window was still there in
Lee's time. Lee, Coll. p. 98. The ' St.
Miles in Cock Lane ' mentioned by Lee,
p. 99, is St. Michael's. See Boro. Rec.
ii, 528.
" A chapel of ease to All Saints, de-
molished in 1631. Boro. Ric. '\l,^^l. Sec
above, p. 21, and Serjeantson, op. cit.
pp. 60-62.
"In 1274-5 '^i' chapel had been
55
without a chaplain for twenty years, and
was ruinous. Roi. Hund. ii, 2. But in
1348, Edward III was presenting to it,
as in the gift of an alien priory. Cal. Pat.
1348-50, p. 247.
"' The chapel was probably older than
the hospital and had all the adjuncts of
an ordinary parish church. Serieantson,
Leper Hospitals of Northampt. pp. 7-10.
*^ Feudal .■lids, iv. 504.
" Valor Ecd. iv. 315-6.
" Dugdale, A/oB. /?ng/. v, 195. Pat. R.
36 Elii. pt. 14 ; 6 Jas. I. pt. 30 ; II Chas. I.
pt. 24. Lee says St. Lawrence's was
called the lawless church, because mar-
riages were performed there without
license (p. 99).
"In 1590; see Serjeantson, op. cit.,
p. 97. In 1549 the communicants in St.
Mary's parish numbered 150, as against
62 In St. Gregory's, 1,000 In All Saints',
and 1,140 In St. Giles'. Chantry Cert.
Roll 35, mm. i-i d.
"■ In 1556 ; V.C.H. Northanls. Ii, 236.
" Coram Rege Rolls. 33 Eliz. mm. 22,
81 d. See R. M. Serieantson, Hist, of
the Ch. of St. Giles, Northampt., p. 287.
" For an account of the bounds as
beaten in 1851 see ibid. p. 228.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
as the vacant spaces within the old walls filled with
houses, and the open fields were first enclosed and
then built over, the others had to be subdivided.^
From All Saints' parish, lying within the old walls,
was formed St. Katharine's parish in 1839, subse-
quently enlarged by an addition from St. Andrew's
parish. From St. Sepulchre's, which extended north
of the old walls, was formed St. Andrew's parish in
1842, with a church designed by Mr. E. F. Law,
architect. From St. Giles' parish, which extended
east of the old walls, was formed in 1846 St. Edmund's
parish, the church of which, consecrated in 1852,
was built from plans by Mr. Matthew Holding and
enlarged in 1 89 1. In 1879 S^- Lawrence's parish
was formed from part of St. Edmund's and part of
St. Sepulchre's ; the church, built of red brick, was
consecrated in 1878. In 1882 St. Michael's and All
Angels was also formed from a part of St. Edmund's,
a church of red brick being built from designs by Mr.
George Vials. The district of Christ Church was
formed in 1899, from parts of St. Edmund's, St.
Michael's and Abington parishes, and was made a
parish in 1907. The transepts and part of the nave
of the church were consecrated in 1906, the chancel
was subsequently built but the nave has yet to be
completed. The architect was Mr. Matthew Holding.
The enlargement of the municipal boundary in 1901
meant the inclusion of the district parish of St.
James, formed in 1872 out of parts of Duston and
Dallington ; the church, of red brick, was consecrated
in 1871, enlarged in 1900 with a tower, subsequently
completed. St. Mary's (an ecclesiastical district),
formed in 1885 out of Hardingstone parish, for
Cotton End and Far Cotton, has a church designed
by Mr. Mattheiv Holding. St. Paul's (an ecclesiastical
district), formed in 1877 out of the parishes of Kings-
thorpe and St. Sepulchre's, the church of which was
designed by Mr. ^latthew Holding. St. Matthew's,
an ecclesiastical parish formed in 1893 out of Kings-
thorpe parish ; the church built from plans by Mr.
Matthew Holding, has a north-west tower with a
spire, 170 ft. high. Holy Trinity, an ecclesiastical
district, was formed in 1899 (parish 1908) out of
Kingsthorpe parish. Northampton thus consists
to-day of 15 ecclesiastical parishes.
St. Andrew's priory presented to the church of
y^iZ S/^/A'TS down to the Dissolution. From 153910
1616 the Crown had the patronage, after which date
it came into the hands of Sir Thomas and Dame
Kathcrine Littleton, who sold the advowson and
rectory to the mayor and corporation of North-
ampton on 24 May 1619. The patronage remained
in their hands till 1835, being exercised by such
members of the corporation as were parishioners of
All Saints'." In 1835 the advowson was sold to
Lewis Loyd, from whom it descended to Lord
Overstone, whose daughter. Lady Wantage, made it
over to the Bishop of Peterborough, the present
patron.
The church of All Saints, first mentioned in
lioS,*" stands to the south of the market place, at
the centre of the- modern as of the medieval town.
The congestion of traffic ovring to the convergence of
main roads and tramways at this point has been
reUeved by the town's acquiring in 1871 and more
recently the land west of the church, formerly the
churchyard and before 1675 the site of the nave.
The church has bet;n the scene of many events of
national importance. Ecclesiastical courts have been
held here*i; the convocation of the province of
Canterbury sat here in 1380**; ' prophesyings '
originated here, and it was the centre of the oppo-
sition to Laudian reform, as described in the previous
volume.** Two political sermons of some interest
were preached here in the 17th century, one by Robert
Wilkinson on the anti-enclosure riots on 21 June
1607, given before the Lord Lieutenant of the county
and the Commissioners** ; the other — Sibthorpe's
Assize sermon on Apostolic obedience — given on
22 Feb. 1626-7.** ^* "'^^ t''^ town church in an
especial sense. Mass was celebrated here before the
elections of town officials under the Act of 1489** ;
from 1553 the town records were kept in the vestry,
in a special chest*' ; and special seats were assigned
for the mayor and baihfFs both before and after the
fire,** which is recorded in the register for marriages
by the sentence, ' While the world lasts, remember
September the 20th, a dreadful! Fire, it consumed to
ashes in a few hours 3-parts of our Town and Chief
Church.' The Justices of Assize attend service here
before the Assizes.
ST. /'£T£/J'S church is first mentioned about 1 20O.*»
Down to 1266 the patronage was in dispute between
the priory of St. Andrew's and the Crown. Henry III
presented in 1222.^ The jurors in the eyre of 1253
presented that the Church of St. Peter's had been in
the gift of the Kings of England down to Henry II,
but was now in the possession of St. Andrew's
priory.*^ In 1266 Henry III recovered the advowson
from the priory, allowing the prior an annual pension
of 15 marks in compensation, which, however, was
not being paid in 1334.** In 1329 Edward III granted
the advowson to the hospital of St. Katharine, near
the Tower of London,^ in whose hands it remained
till the middle of the 19th century, though leased out
from 1 550-1640 to the Morgan family.^ The last
appointment by the hospital was made in 1873 ; the
patronage has since been exercised by the Queen
Consort, the patron of St. Katharine's.
From time immemorial the chapel of 57". JOHN
THE BAPTIST, Kingsthorpe, was attached to St.
Peter's as a chapel of ease.** It only became an
independent parish church in 1850.** The chapel of
St. Michael at Upton has also continued to be appur-
tenant to St. Peter's as a chapel of ease from the
earliest recorded times.*'
St. Andrew's priory presented to ST. SEPUL-
CHRE'S until the Dissolution. The advowson then
»• Sec V.C.H. Northanti. ii. 66.
•• Serjcantion, lliii. of the Cb. of All
Sainti, S'ortbampt. p. 184-5.
" Ibid. p. 12.
♦' 6Vi/<j Abbalum Mon. S. Albani (RoUi
S«r.), p. 3?2.
•• FineR. 4Rie. IT,m. 21.
*' y.C.II. Norihanii. ii 44 c,t.
** A Srrmon frraebrd at North Hampun
. . . printed in London for John Flackct,
1607.
" Apostotiht Ohcdirnce ... by Robert
Sybthorpc. . . . London ... to be sold \>j
Jamei Bowler, 1627.
*• Sec above, p. 9.
" Boro. Rrc. ii, 4.
" Seric.intion, llnl. of the Cb. of All
Sainti, Korlbampt. pp. 254-8.
«» Ilarl. Ch. 44, H. 34.
'" Cal. Pat. 1216-25, p. 342.
" Assise R. 6 15, m. 14 d.
»• Rot. Pari, ii, 76.
'> Cal. Pat. 1327-30, p. 420.
" R. M. Scrjeantion, Hist, of the Cb. 0
St. Prter, Norlhampt. p. 105-108.
'» Ibid. p. 250 (Harl. Ch. 44 H.34.)
■'• Ibid. p. 147. •' Ibid. p. 217.
56
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
passed to the Crown, and was in the royal hands till
1615, when James I sold it to Edmund Dufficld
and John Babington of London.** From them it
passed a month later to Sir John Lambe." His
executors sold it in 1653 to Peter Whalley, twice
mayor of Northampton, and Ferdinando Archer,
headmaster of the grammar school, 1646-96. It
passed from the Whalley family to the Watlcins,**
and was sold early in the 19th century to Thomas
Butcher and by him to W. ButUn,*^ who sold it to
Lord Ovcrstone, whose daughter, Lady Wantage,
made it over to the present patron, the Bishop of
Peterborough.
ST. GILES' church is first mentioned about iizo.**
It served as the meeting place of the town assembly
down to the time of the Act of 1489, possibly, it
has been suggested, because it was equally remote
from the Castle and the Priory of St. Andrew's.**
St. Andrew's presented to St. Giles' church down
to the Dissolution. From that time the advow-
son went with that of St. Sepulchre's until 1833,
when the Rev. Edward Watkin sold it to the Simeon
trustees, the present patrons.
Of the eleven newer churches of Northampton, the
advowsons of St. Katharine's and St. Andrew's belong
to Hyndman's trustees, and that of St. Matthew's,
Kingsthorpe, to Pickering Phipps, Esq. ; the other
eight are in the gift of the Bishop of Peterborough.
There were a great number of rehgious
GILDS, gilds and fraternities in Northampton on
the eve of the Reformation. In the church
of All Saints there were the following. The Gild of
St. Mary, stated in 1388 to have been founded before
1272, supplied three chaplains for the saying of
daily masses and other services.** The Gild of St.
John Baptist, founded in 1347 for the maintenance
of one chaplain, and also, if funds permitted, for con-
vivial purposes," was closely connected with the
craft gild of the Tailors.** The Corpus Christi
Gild, founded 1351, was for the maintenance of one
(later three) chaplains and the organisation of a
Corpus Christi procession.*' The Gild of the Holy
Trinity and the Blessed Virgin Mary, founded in
1392, maintained four chaplains to say mass.** The
craft gild of the Weavers came to be connected with
this gild.** The Fraternity of the Rood was for
the adornment of the Rood beam.'" The Fraternity
of St. George found a priest to sing mass in St.
George's chapel, and was the owner of St. George's
Hall, which later became the property of the cor-
poration.'* The Fraternity of St. Katharine appears
to have existed for the purpose of assisting the
burials of those who died of the plague and were
buried in St. Katharine's churchyard (between College
Lane and Horsemarkct).'* The chaplains of these
several fraternities formed the college of All Saints,
described in the previous volume."
In the church of St. Gregory there was the Gild
of the Holy Rood in the Wall, founded by the
Hastings in 1473 for the maintenance of chaplains to
celebrate mass.'*
In the church of St. Mary there was the Gild of
St. Katharine,'* founded in 1347 for the maintenance
of one chaplain (later two) to celebrate mass, and to
keep the gild Feast on St. Katharine's Day, and
attend at the funeral of the gild brethren.
In the church of St. Giles there were the Gild of
St. Clement, in existence by 1469,'* for finding one
priest," and the Gild of the Holy Cross, mentioned in
a will of the year 1521.'*
In the church of St. Sepulchre's there was the
fraternity of St. Martin, mentioned in a will of the
year 1500.'*
Besides the parish
RELIGIOUS HOUSES, churches and chapels of
ease there were five con-
ventual churches and a hospital chapel within the
walls of Northampton in the middle ages as well as
several in the suburb.
The PRIORT OF ST. ANDREW,'"' founded by
Simon I c. 1 100 for Cluniac monks, was at first,
according to the statement of its prior in 1348, located
in a house adjoining the chapel of St. Martin, pro-
bably on the present Broad Street.'* Later, at a date
to wltich we have no clue, it was translated to the
site in the north-west corner of the medieval borough
which it occupied till the Reformation, as shown in
Speed's map. The estate map of 1632*^ shows that
the priory wall ran from St. Andrew's mill along the
site of the present St. George's Street to the North-
gate, then west along the present Grafton Street to
Grafton Square, where the great gate of the priory
probably stood, then south along Lower Harding
Street, west along Spring Lane to St. Andrew's Road
and thence north to St. Andrew's mill.** The priory
church stood between Brook Street and Lower Priory
Street, and Monks' Pond Street runs across the site
of the fish pond. The cemetery lay across Upper
Harding Street, Priory Street and Francis Street,
where stone coffins were found in 1838, 1852, and
1880, some architectural fragments are now in the
Northampton Museum.**
ST. JAMES" ABBET,^ was a house of Austin
Canons, founded at the beginning of the 12th cen-
'• Pat. R. 1 2 Ja». I, pt. 1 5, m. 24.
"Col. S. P. Dm. 1611-1618, p.
174-
" For the descent see the family tree
in Serjeantson, Hisi. oj the Cb. oj St.
Gilts, Nortiampt. p. 289.
•' Whellan, lliit. of Nortbanu (1874),
p. 135.
••Cott. MS. Veap. E. xvii, f. 17 d.
•• Serjeantion, Hist, of tit Cb. of St.
Gilts, fioTtbampt. p. 15.
" Certif. of Gilds, Chan. No. 383.
•» Ibid. Chan. no. 381.
•• Boro. Rec. i, 266, 281.
•' Cert, of Gilds, Chan. no. 380.
'• Pat-R. i6Ric. ll,pt. 2, m. 32 j Chan.
Inq. a.q.d. i;i, pt. 2 a.
•• BoTo. Rec. i, 332.
'" Serjeantson, Hin. of the Ch. of All
Saints, Nortbampt. p. 56.
'^ Ibid. pp. 56-9.
" Court of Augni. Proc. bdle 27, no. 4.
Aug. Off. Bks. vol. 132, no. 173.
" r.CM. Notthants. ii, 18&-1.
'*Pat. R. 12 Ed. IV, pt. ii, m. 8.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. 16 Ric. II, pt. i,
103.
'• Serjeantson. Hist, of tbe Cb. of St.
Giles, Northampt. p. 33.
"' Ibid. p. 36. '• Ibid. p. 33.
" Cox and Serjeantson, Hut, of tbe Cb.
of the Holy Sepulchre, Northampt. p. 238.
'" V.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 102-8 ; R. M.
Serjeantson in Nortbants Nat. Hist. Soc.
Tol. xiii.
•' Cal. Pat. 1348-50, p. 247. This
S7
reference seems to have escaped the obser-
vation even of Mr. Serjeantson.
*' Original in Messrs.Markham's offices ;
copy in Northampt. Public Library.
"See plan; Nortbants Nat. Hist. Soc.
xiii, 136.
" See Journal of Brit. Arch. Assoc.
viii, 67. They are of the I2th and 13th
century, and include an enriched Norman
shaft. There are also two tiles, one with
arms of Fitzwalter of Daventry (possibly
for Sir Thomas Fitzwalter, M.P. for
Northampton, d. 1381) and the other
with a lion rampant (possibly for Sir
John Lyons, sheriff, 1381).
"V.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 127-30; Ser-
jeantson in Nortbants Nat. Hist. Soc,
vol. xiii.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Abbey or St. Janus,
Northampton. Party
argent and guUs a
scallop or.
tury by William Peverel. It lay outside the liberties,
but in the suburb, and owned much property in the
town. The only trace remaining to-day is the
name Abbey Street ; a small part of the Abbey wall
on the Weedon Road, near the point where the
roads to Duston and Upton divide, was entirely taken
down in 1927.'^ The great barn of the abbey was
described by Henry Lee (1715) as ' one of the greatest
and stateliest barns of England. A carriage with
grain could stand in one of its southern porches,
as I have seen, before it was
shaken down and the material
sold.'*' He adds that the
abbot of St. James' entertained
travellers coming from the
west, as the prior of St.
Andrew's entertained those
coming from the north, the
town inns being often ' very
ordinary.' From early in the
13th century the two houses
were much used for monastic
gatherings. Twenty at least of
the triennial general chapters
of the Austin Canons were
held at St. James' between
1237 and 1446, and thirty-nine of the forty general
chapters of the Benedictine order between 1338 and
1498 were held at St. Andrew's, though a Cluniac
house.*'*
THE FR.4.\CISCAN^^ first settled in Northamp-
ton in 1226. Valuable details as to the foundation of
the house are to be found in the Phillips MS. of
Eccleston, not yet in print when the previous volume
of this history was written, which contains a number
of marginal notes specially bearing on Northampton.
The first two friars arriving in the town in 1226 were
received by Sir Richard Gobion, ' who settled them
outside the east gate on his own hereditary estate
near St. Edmund's Church.'*' The knight's own son
John was one of the first to take the habit, and in
consequence the angry parents ordered the friars to
depart. The humble acquiescence of the brothers
and their poverty, however, so touched Gobion's
heart that he relented and allowed them to stay. About
1235 the friars moved into the town, where the towns-
folk had given them a site in St. Sepulchre's parish,
and thenceforward a series of grants from their
devoted patron Henry III of timber for building
are found on the Close Rolls."' By 1258 the friary was
complete, and the brothers began building a house
for their schools. The Greyfriars' site, ' the best
builded and largest House of all the places of the
freres,' according to Leland," was almost due north
of the market place, near the present Greyfriars
Street. Traces of interments were found in 1849,
1887 and 1889,'* in Princess Street, showing conclu-
sively that the cemetery lay between Newland and
the south side of Princess Street, on the site of the
present Temperance Hall and Masonic Hall. The
well also was discovered, and is under the present
Masonic H.ill.
A house of POOR CLARES or SISTERS MINOR,
the first in England, existed for a short time in North-
ampton. From 1252 to 1272 the sheriff of Northants
is ordered to provide the sisters with five tunics of
russet every two years. They are described as
dwelling near the Friars Preachers, that is, not far
from the Mayorhold. Nothing is known of the house
beyond the references on the Close and Liberate
Rolls, first noted by Mr. Serjeantson in 191 1.*^
The FRIARS OF THE SACK^ also had a house
in Northampton, founded by Sir Nicholas de Cogenhoe
in the reign of Henry III. In 1271 they received a
grant from the king for the building of their church.'"*
From the returns to the inquest of 1274-5 it appears
that their house was in the south-east quarter,
between the Derngate and ' Dandeline's court,'
wherever that was.** The friary came to an end
before 1303," and the order itself was suppressed in
1307.
THE DOMINICANS*'' first settled in North-
ampton about 1230, and began building about 1233,
assisted by a series of grants from Henry III, from
1233 to 1270.** The house was large enough for a
provincial chapter to be held there in 1239." The
building of ' studies ' is mentioned in 1258.* Building
continued through the reigns of Edward I and Edward
II, and in 1310 the friars obtained a license from the
bishop to have six superaltars in their church.*
The royal chancery was estabhshed in the Black-
friars' Church from 31 July to 6 August 1338.'
No traces of the house are left ; it was situated on
the east side of the Horsemarket and its precincts
came down to Gold Street.*
If the later tradition can be trusted,* by which
Simon de Montfort was one of their first benefactors,
THE WHITE FRIARSO must have settled in North-
ampton by 1261; ; they were certainly here by 1270,
when Simon dcPateshull was bcstowinglands on them.'
An inquest of 1278* shows that their house was near
the town wall, and they were making additions to
it both at that date and in 1299.' In 1310 they
obtained leave to have six altars in their church,*'
and four provincial chapters were held in it in the
course of the 14th century. The site of their house
was in the parish of St. Michael," near the top of
Wood Street, formerly called Whitefriars Lane,
•♦ Ibid. p. 262. The position indicated
by Dr. Cox in hit map, horo. Rec, vol. ii,
ii definitely incorrect.
" Lee, Coll. p. 92.
•'• H. E. Salter, Cbapten of the Augiu-
linian Canoni(Oxl. Hist. Soc), pp. xiii-xli ;
W. A. Pantin, Tram. Royal Hut. Soc.
4th Ser. X, 251-5.
"y.C.H. Norihant,. ii, 146-7; Ser-
jeantion, Hiit. of the Six Hoiuei of Friars
in Nortbampt. (191 1).
'• Eccleston, De /Idvrntu Fratrum Mino-
runi, ed. A. G. Little (Paris, 1909), p. 29.
'•" Serjeantson, op. cit. pp. 47, gives
full references.
*° Itinerary^ i, 10.
" Aiioc. Arch. Soc. Reps. 1887-8, pp.
12 1-4, contains a full .iccount of the
excavations, by Sir H. Drydcn.
•* Serjeantson, /Itst. of the Six Houses
of Friars in Northampt.
•' Ibid.
" Close R. sfillcn. Ill.ni. 10.
" Rot. Himd. ii, 3.
•• Close R. 31 Ed. i, m. 10.
" y.C.H. Northants. ii, 144-6 ; Ser-
jeantson, op. cit.
•• Ibid.
" Liberate R. 23 Hen. Ill, mm. 5, R.
' ClotcR. 42 Hen. HI, m. 2.
• Line. Epis. Reg. Dalderby, Mem.
fo. 162.
' Close R. 12 Ed. Ill, pt. 2, m. 20 d.
• Serjeantson, op. cit. The position
indicated by Dr. Cox upon the map in
Boro. Rec. vol. ii, is incorrect.
° Tanner, Notitia Monaslica ; cf. Boro.
Rec. i, 360.
' V.C.H. Northants. ii, 148-9; Ser-
jeantson, op. cit.
' Rot. Ihind. ii, 2.
" y.C.H. Northants. ii, 148.
• Pat. R. 27 Ed I, m. 3:.
'» Line. Epis. Reg. Dalderby, Mem.
fl. 162, 171. " Boro. Rec. i, 360.
■>>
Northampton : Master's House of St. John's Hospital (now destroyed)
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
lying between Newland, Ladies' Lane, and the
Upper Mounts of to-day.** The foundations of the
church were uncovered in 1846, under the road now
known as Kerr Street'^
The house of 'THE JUSTIN FRIJRS^* was
founded by Sir John Longevile in 1322/* and was
situated on the west side of Bridge Street, opposite
St. John's hospital, on the site now occupied by
Augustine Street. No traces of it remain.
THE HOSPITAL OF ST. 70//.V," founded by
Wilhara de St. Clare, Archdeacon of Northampton,
about 1 1 38, is the only one of the religious houses of
Northampton still standing." It is on the east
side of Bridge Street, within the line of the town
wall, near to the site of the south gate, and
now covered with blue slates : the interior is in a bad
state of repair. The west end,'* with its gable to the
street, is apparently of early 14th century date, its
chief feature being a wide and lofty recessed pointed
arch of two moulded orders, the inner springing from
shafts with moulded capitals and bases, within which
is set the continuous moulded west doorway, and
over it the remains of a niche with bracket for a
statue. In the gable above the arch is a large circular
window of four pairs of trefoiled lights radiating
from a quatrefoil, the spaces between having sexfoil
cusping : the window is surrounded by a hood-
mould which dies into the ape.T of that of the great
arch. Probably no other part of the building is con-
temporary with the west front, but parts of the north
KJ_5__o
10
20
.^_
40
Scale of Feet
14BJ Century earlv
15- Century late
161!! Cent.late or 1711! earlv
C3 182! Century
Modern
Plan of St. John's Hospital, North.\mpton
consisted originally of an almshouse and chapel,
with a master's house about 60 yards to the north-
east. The site of 3I acres was bounded on the
north by St. John's Lane, on the south by the town
wall, and on the west by Bridge Street. The
master's house has been pulled down, but the chapel
and almshouse, or domicile, still stand. In 1871 the
property was sold to the Midland Railway Company,
and the master's house was demolished to make room
for the Midland Station. The infirmary and chapel
were resold to Mr. Mulliner, from whom they were
purchased in 1877 for a Roman Catholic community, in
whose possession they now are. The inmates of the
hospital were transferred to a new building at Weston
Fa veil, opened in 1879.
The almshouse is a building of red sandstone standing
east and west, in plan a parallelogram, measuring
internally 62 ft. 6 in. by 22 ft., except that the west
wall is shghtly skewed in order to accommodate
itself to the direction of the street, and it is attached
by its north-east angle to the south-west angle of
the chapel. The building is of two stories, but has
been a good deal rebuilt and altered." The roof is
wall and the middle part of the south wall, which
contain pointed windows, are apparently of late
15th century date, and the square-headed windows
on the north side are perhaps a century later. The
greater part of the south wall and the whole of the
east wall were rebuilt in the 1 8th century, when
wooden-framed windows were introduced on both
floors and alterations made in the interior arrange-
ments. A 4 ft. passage runs down the middle of the
building from the west to the east door, with staircase
and a series of bedrooms on the south, and four
larger rooms on the north side. There is reason to
believe that originally the building did not extend
so far to the east." the buttresses of the south-west
angle of the chapel having been cut away to allow
for the erection of the east end of the north wall of the
almshouse, which appears to be not earlier than the
end of the i6th century. The side walls are about
16 ft. to the eaves, and in the middle of the south side
is a window of three cinquefoiled lights with depressed
head and hollow chamfered jambs, lighting the stair-
case, its sill about 6 ft. above the ground. This window
contains the figure of a man and the name of ' Richard
** The positions indicated by Dr. Cox
upon his map in Boro Rec. vol. ii, for
the White Friars' and the Grey Friars'
houses should he exchanged.
'• G. N. Wetton, Guidebook u North-
ampt. p. 4S.
'♦ F.C.H. Nortbanis. ii, 147 ; Serjeant-
ion, op. cit.
" Inq. a.q.d. 16 Ed. ii, i6o-2.
'• y. C. H. Nortbanti. ii, 156-9; Serj-
jeantson in Northants Nat. Hist. Soc.
vols, xvi and xvii.
'" Bridges early in the iSth century
states that it had been ' altered in some
parts by modem reparations ' : op. cit. i,
457-
59
*^ The elevation towards the street it
29 ft. in length inclusive of a later but-
tress at the north-west angle. The
ground level has been raised outside.
*• Assoc. Arch. Soc. Reps, xji, 233, in a
paper by Sir Henry Dryden, 1875, use of
which has been made in the present
description.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Sherd,' who was master in 1474,'' and it formerly con-
tained also fragments of painted glass, including shields
of Grey, Hastings and Valence, but these have
been lately taken out. The stairs are not centrally
placed, being shghtly nearer the east end : from a
landing below the window they lead east and west to
two large upper rooms, one at each end of the building,
said to have been for the ' co-brothers ' or chaplains.^^
On the north side of the ground floor passage is a
room at the west end with a square-headed two-hght
window, and next to it one with a smaU pointed
external doorway. Next to this is a larger room, or
hall, hghted by two three-light ^-indows similar to
that on the staircase, and open to the roof, and at the
east end the kitchen, which has a large projecting fire-
place and a two-hght square-headed window in the
north wall. The roof of the building is of six bays.
Although the division of hall and kitchen is apparently
modern the construction of the two bays of roof over
the hall seems to imply that this part of the building
alone was always open its fuO height.*^ Of the two
upper rooms, which are 22 ft. by 20 ft., that at the
west end is hghted by the circular window and by
two square-headed mullioned windows on the north,
and two wooden-framed ones on the south side, and
has a fireplace in the south-west angle. The eastern
room has also mullioned windows on the north and
wooden ones on the south side, and a fireplace with
moulded jambs. Both rooms extend the full vvidth of
the building, and occupy two bays of the roof.
The chapel is in plan a plain rectangle, 16 ft. wide in-
ternally by 44 ft. long, built of local red sandstone, and
the roof covered with blue slates. The three-light east
window is of the early 14th century with cusped inter-
secting tracery and moulded mullions and jambs, and
the chapel was probably wholly rebuilt in that period.
The entrance is at the west end. The north wall is
blank. The west wall is of the 15th century and has
coupled buttresses at the angles standing wholly
beyond the face of the north and south walls, i.e., the
west end is nearly 6 ft. wider than the body of the
chapel, and it is possible that the whole of the north,
south and east walls have been rebuilt on a narrower
plan, leaving the west end as it was and re-using the
east window.^ The building was extensively restored
in 1853-4 ''y '^^ Charity Commissioners, the whole of
the south wall being then taken down and rebuilt in its
present form with two two-hght windows in the
14th century style,** below the westernmost of which
is a small pointed doorway.^ The roof of five bays
and the wooden bell turret are modern. The building
was renovated in 1882, to which date the present
fittings belong. The buildings are now undergoing
further repair.
The moulded west doorway has an almost semi-
circular two-centred head under a square label, the
spandrels of which contain quatrefoils with square-loaf
flowers. The original double doors remain. Above is a
large four-centred five-hght window with Perpen-
dicular tracery and moulded jambs and mullions. The
two-armed cross on the gable is said to be original .The
doorway and west and east windows are of oolite. In
the east windows are considerable remains of 15th
century glass, including saints, a head of the Blessed
Virgin, an angel holding a sliield, and a kneeling
figure.
The Master's House, now demolished, is said to
have contained work of every century from the 13th
to the 19th, and its architectural history was com-
pUcated.*' It was rectangular in plan with a south
porch and north-west wing, and had a frontage of
about 87 ft. The hall, 26 ft. 3 in. by 19 ft. 2 in., had
been divided in the 1 8th century. The kitchen and
offices were at the west end.
THE HOSPITAL OF ST. LEONARD,^'' founded
by Richard de Stafford in the nth century, was in
Hardingstone parish, outside the liberties, on the
west side of the road leading to Queen's Cross. The
hospital btuldings, of which no description is extant,
included a chapel and churchyard which served the
inhabitants of Cotton End as a parish church. The
Lazar House is mentioned in the Assembly Books
from 1623 to 1823, when it was finally pulled down ;
it can have been Uttle more than a cottage at this
time, when there was only one recipient of the
charity.
THE HOSPITAL OF ST THOMAS,^ founded
apparently in the 15th century, stood on the east side
of Bridge Street, just outside the south gate. In
1834 the residents removed to a new house in St.
Giles' Street, and the buildings were used for a
carriage-builders' shop until, in 1874, they were
pulled down to make room for a road to the new
cattle market.'* It was a rectangular 15th century
stone building, consisting of a large hall, 22 ft. 3 in.
wide internally with upper floor, and a chapel at its
east end 15 ft. wide by 16 ft. 9 in. long, the south wall
of which was continuous with that of the hall. The
roofs were covered with Collyweston slates. At the
time of demohtion the hall, or domicile, was 54 ft. 8 in.
long internally, but it had been shortened some 3 ft.
or 4 ft. at the west end, probably for street-widening
purposes. The original west elevation facing Bridge
Street, as shown in Bridges' History, had a central
arched doorway, with window on the south side,
and above these a row of quatrefoils containing blank
shields. Over the doorway was a four-light window
and on each side of it a canopied niche containing a
figure. The hall was, no doubt, formerly divided by
screens in the usual way, with cubicles arranged
round the walls : several lockers ^ remained in both
tlie north and south walls, but some had been con-
verted into uindows. In the middle of the north wall
was a large fireplace, one jamb only of which was
'°Thi« may give the approximate date
of the 15th century alteration).
" Brideei, //n(. of Noribanis. i 457.
" Alloc. Arch. Soc, Reps. %n, 233.
*' Ibid. 232. There are no buttresses
St the north-east and south-east angles,
and except at the west end, where it
is chamfered, the plinth is a mere set-
•* They are said to have been indicated
by fragments found in the wall, but the
windows previously in the south wall
were round-headed and probably of i8th
century date : ibid. 230.
"The doorway is probably in its original
position, but the form of the previous one
is not known : ibid. 230.
" Assoc. Arch. Soc. Reps, xil, 225,
where there is a lengthy description by
Sir Henry Drydcn. His measured draw-
ing of the building in in the collection of
the North.impt. Arch. Soc. in the rooms
of the Ladies' Club.
60
'T.C./f. Northanis. ii, 159-161 ; Ser-
jcantson, Northanis Nat. Hist. Soc.
Vol. xviii.
" V.C.n. Northanis ii, 161-2 ; Scr-
jeantson, Hospital ofSi.Thomat, Northampt.
(1909).
"■The following description is based on a
paper by Sir Henry Dryden in Assoc. Arch.
Soc. Reps, xiii, 225-231.
•"They were 3 ft. 3 in. high, 2 ft. 2 in.
wide, and 16 in. deep. There Were no
lockers in the upper room.
^-TrfT. ' -' ■
,4,
V
{ ,V»
k«rE<
NoRiiiAMPTON : St. Thomas' Hospital (now destroyed)
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
original, and two square-headed two-light windows.
There was no arched wall opening to the chapel at the
east end of the ' domicile ' and no trace of any division
between the chapel and the lower room, though pro-
bably a screen had existed.'' The upper room had
several windows. The chapel had an east window of
four cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery and a
canopied niche on cither side within : in the south
wall was a piscina and a window of three lights.
Both chapel and domicile had open timber roofs, the
former of two, the latter of five bays, with wind braces
under the upper and lower purlins.
After its vacation in 1834 the building was used for
business purposes.^^
Two hospitals stood outside the north gate of the
town in Kingsthorpe parish ; the Leper hospital of
VValbeck" and the hospital of St. David and the
Trinity,** founded in 1200 by the prior and convent
of St. Andrew's on the petition of Peter, son of Adam.
THE COLLEGE OF ALL SAINTS,^ founded
in 1460, stood on the west side of College L.inc, oppo-
site the end of College Yard, and consisted of a
priest's house for the warden and fellows and a
garden. It was used as a hospital for the sick during
the plague of 1603 to 1605, being then the property of
Abraham Ventris.**
There were two HERMITAGES, one on the west
and the other on the south bridge.
THE CASTLE HILL MEETING is prob.ibly
older in origin than 1662," though it was augmented
by secessions from St. Giles' and St. Peter's in that
year. In 1672 licenses were
NONCONFORMIST granted for worship in 6
CHAPELS. houses in Northampton, of
which three were Presby-
terian and two Congregational.'* The definite
history of the Castle Hill congregation begins
with the ministry of Samuel Blower in 1674 ; and
his meeting house was one of the few that escaped
the fire. The present Castle Hill Chapel was built
in 1695 and is now known as Doddridge Chapel. It
is a rectangular building with hipped roof. On the
south side is a sundial on which was originally the
motto, ' Post est occasio calva, 1695.' Within, the
roof was propped inside by two great wooden pillars,
and there was a heavy white pulpit with sounding-
board and galleries. In 1852 the building was
enlarged and newly roofed, the pillars removed and
new gaUeries put up. A spacious vestibule was
added on the south side in 1890 covering the doorways.
There are five other Congregational chapels, of which
one was built in the 18th, three in the 19th, and
one in the 20th century.
COLLEGE STREET CHAPEL is the second oldest
Free Church centre. In its origin it was a secession
from Castle Hill Meeting, though friendly relations
were maintained between the two, and the members
met for some seventeen years at Lady Fcrmor's house
in the south quarter. The ' Church Covenant ' at
the time of the formal establishment of a Baptist
church is dated 27 October 1697 ,'* and the chapel in
College Street was built in 1712. Beginning as an
Independent, it became a Baptist community. As
Castle Hill is associated with Doddridge (1729-53) so
College Street is connected with the Rylands, father
and son, the elder famous for his ministry (1759-86)
and his school; the younger (minister 1786-93) for
his friendship with Carey and share in founding the
Baptist Missionary Society (1792).** There are
eight other Baptist chapels in Northampton besides
the College Street Chapel, which was rebuilt in 1863.
Of these one, Providence Chapel, Abington Street, was
built in the eighteenth and the rest in the 19th
century.
There are six Wesleyan chapels, four Primitive
Methodist chapels, two chapels of the Plymouth
Brethren, one Unitarian chapel, and two Salvation
Army barracks.
The Friends were early persecuted in Northampton,
and several died in Northampton gaol. They have a
meeting house in Wellington Street.
The cathedral of the Roman Catholic diocese of
Northampton, opened as ST. FELIX CHURCH in
1844, now the church of St. Mary and St. Thomas
of Canterbury, is in the Kingsthorpe Road. The chapel
of St. John's hospital in Bridge Street is also used as
a Roman Catholic place of worship. There is a
Jewish synagogue in Overstone Road.
To the account of the early schools of
SCHOOLS. Northampton in the previous volume**"
should be added a reference of the
year 1 232. John de Duston, presented in that year
to the church of St. Bartholomew's, Northampton,
by the prior and convent of St. Andrew's, and being
examined by the archdeacon of Northampton, was
ordered to frequent the schools of Northampton and
study there, and at the end of the year to present
himself to the archdeacon for re-examination.*' In
1258 the Grey Friars of Northampton were granted
ten oaks from Silverstone Forest for the building of
their schools.*^ In the same year the Black Friars
were given sixgood oaks for the\TS.tudyioomi{studta).*^
Possibly these buildings are to be associated with the
transitory university of Northampton, whose history
was given in the previous volume.**
The Grammar School*^ endowed by Chipsey in
1541 and housed first at ' The Lamb ' in Bridge Street
and later on the site of St. Gregory's Church, in the
modern Free School Street, was moved in 1867 to new
buildings in Abington Square, and in 1911 to the
*' ' The part of the east wall of the
domicile outiide the chapel roof wai
wooden framework, covered with lath
■nd pUitcr,' except a imall piece of atone
work covering the wall over a doorway
at the eait end of the hall north of the
chapd : Auk. Arcb. Soc. Reps, ziii,
227.
"The chapel and the east part of the
hall were used as a carriage house, double
doors being inserted at the east end below
the window. After the rebuilding of the
welt wall, probably early in the 19th
century ,a small house had been constructed
in the north-west part of this hall, and a
large doorway made in the south end of
the new west wall to admit carriages.
Some 14th-century glass from the Hos-
pital is now in the Church of St. Sepulchre:
Cox and Serjeantson, /list of Ch. of Holy
SepuUbre, Norihampt. 50.
" V.C.H. Northantt. ii, 162 ; Nortbanu.
Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. xviii.
" y.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 154-6.
''- tbid.
•• Serjeantson, Hist, of Ch. of All Saints,
Northampt., p. 72.
*^ V.C.H. Nortbanu. Ii, 69; T. Cas-
61
quoine, etc., Hist of Castle Hill Cb.
Northampt. 1896.
"' Cal. S. P. Dam. 1671-2, p. 306 ; ibid.
1672,238,379; ibid. 1672-3, 178,259,261.
'» J. Taylor, Hist, of College St. Ch.
(Northampt. 1896), p. 3.
*» y.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 74; Diet. Nat.
Biog.
♦»• y.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 15, 16.
*' Line. Rec. Soc. vi, 170.
♦•Close R. 42 Hen. Ill, m.6.
"Ibid. m. 2.
" y.C.H. Nortbants. ii, 15-17.
" Ibid, ii, 234-41.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
present buildings in the Billing Road, just outside the
municipal boundary. It is now known as the Town
and County School, and has some 530 pupils.*®
In the 1 8th century Northampton became a centre
of Nonconformist higher education, by the presence
here,from 172910 l75i,of PhihpDoddridge'sacademy,
a training college for the Free Church ministry. This
academy, opened in July 1729 at Market Harborough
under Doddridge's headship, came to Northampton
with him and was originally in No. 34 Marefair, at the
corner of Pike Lane.*' In 1740 it was removed to a
large house in Sheep Street opposite the Ram.**
Formerly the Rose and Crown inn, it later became the
town house of the Earl of HaUfax, and later still was
divided into tenements. The course of instruction
was based upon that of Doddridge's tutor at Kibworth,
John Jennings,** and included Hebrew, Greek,
psychology, ethics, divinity, natural philosophy,
civil law and some mathematics. All had to learn
Doddridge's special system of shorthand.^" The full
course occupied five years, and some two hundred
pupils passed under his care, of whom 120 entered the
ministry,** and several had careers of distinction.**
After his death, the academy removed to Daventry,
and was carried on by Caleb Ashworth, one of his
own former pupils. The elder Ryland also had an
academy ; but this was no more than a boarding school
(1769-1786) ; it moved with him to Enfield when he
resigned the ministry of College Street Chapel to his
son.*3
The three charity schools, namely, Dryden's Free
School, or the Orange School, founded in 1710, the
Blue Coat School, founded by the Earl of Northampton
in 1755, and combined with Dryden's, and the Green
Coat School, founded by Gabriel Newton in 1761, were
amalgamated in one, known as the Corporation Charity
School, and survived until the 20th century. In
April 1923 the school having been closed, the endow-
ments of the charity were, under a scheme of the Board
of Education, devoted to educational purposes,
forming a fund known as the Blue Coat Corporation
Charity School Foundation for the provision of
scholarships.**
Becket and Sargeant's (Blue) Girls' School, founded
in 1738 for 30 girls,** is still in existence at 13 Kings-
will Street. On the Sunday next sfter 29 May,
following the practice of the 1 8th century,** tlie
school girls attend a special service at All Saints'
Church, wearing their distinctive dress.
In 1738, owing to the eflForts of Doddridge, a free
church charity school was established for instructing
and clothing twenty boys which seems to have come
to an end about 1 772.*'
In 1812 British and National Schools were set up by
Lancaster and Bell respectively. A number of
Church of England schools were set up in the course
of the 19th century, five being founded between
1839 ^""^ '858, and nine more before the close of the
century. There arc now 22 elementary schools, of
which two are Church of England ; and in addition
one special school for mentally deficient children and
two Roman Catholic elementary schools.
There are two girls' secondary schools : namely,
the Girls' High School, Derngate (165 pupils), and the
County Borough Secondary Girls' School, in St.
George's Avenue, opened in 191 5 (270 pupils). There
are also a number of private schools, including a
convent school, a large and imposing building in
Abington Street, under the Sisters of Notre Dame.
The Northampton School of Arts and Crafts,
Abington Street, now under the control of the county
borough, was estabhshed in 1871 ; the Technical
School in Abington Square was opened in 1894; a
Domestic Economy School, under the Northants
County Council, in Harleston Road, was estabhshed
in 1896, and there is a housewifery centre, under the
Northampton Education Committee.
Cleveland Henry James Butterfield,
CHARITIES, by a declaration of trust dated
12 April 1923, gave ^^loo, the interest
to be applied in granting a prize to the most deserving
mother during the year. The endowment, known as
the Catherine Anne Butterfield Memorial Charity, now
consists of ;^I24 8;. id. 3J per cent. Conversion Stock
with the Official Trustees producing £4 js. 2d.,
which is distributed by the Town Clerk and four other
trustees appointed under the previsions of the
declaration of trust.
Mrs. Mary Clark, by her will proved 9 March 1907,
gave ;(^200, the income to be distributed among the
poor members and attendants at the Doddridge
Congregational Chapel. The money was invested
in ;^300 15J. Consols and is with the Official Trustees
producing £j los. 4d. yearly wliich is distributed by
the deacons amongst the poor members of the con-
gregation.
Emma Pressland, by her will proved at Northamp-
ton 24 Feb. 191 1, gave ^£100 to the trustees of the
Doddridge Congregational Chapel, to apply the income
for providing coal for the poor members of the chapel.
The money was invested on mortgage producing
approximately £j annually.
William Jeff cry, bv his will proved 14 March 1896,
gave ;£200, the income to he distributed among the
poor members of the Doddridge Congregational
Chapel. The endowment of the charity now consists
of ;^2ii 13J. lod. 5 per cent. War Stock 1929-47
with the Official Trustees ; the dividends amounting
to j^io in. %d. yearly are distributed by the trustees
among the poor members of the chapel.
Mary Jeffcry, by her will proved at Northampton on
the 4 March 1 864 bequeathed ;{!l50, the interest to
be equally divided between the Coal Club, Sunday
School and Bible Mission in connexion with the
Doddridge Congregational Chapel. The endowment
of the charity now consists of ^[284 Northampton
Gas Light Company Consolidated Stock ; the
dividends are distributed annually.
" A. P. White, 7bt Story 0/ Norlhampl.
pp. 109, iiz, 150.
«' T. Gaiquome, Hiil. oJCauli IIM Cb.,
Northampt.^ p. 22.
"Ibid, p. 19.
"Jcnningi' I.ccturcf, printed at the
^torthampton Mercury oflice in 1721, arc in
the Taylor Collection in the Northampt.
Public Library, (Author J J]
'"The Rulci of the Acidemy, from
a MS. Book at New College, H.Tmp-
itcad,arc printed Gaaquoine, op. cit. pp.
63-71.
"Job Orton, Life of Doddridge (ed.
D. Ruiiell), p. 115.
"E.g. Dr. Aiken, Dr. Kippii, J. Orton,
T. Urwick, Samuel Merivalc, Stephen
Addington, Benjamin Fawcett, etc.
62
'• Ibid, p, 269,
" Information from the To«n Clerk,
'' See tombstone of founders, with
figure of Charity ichool girl, in All Saints*
Church, west end of north aisle,
" The children then wore gilded oak
apples,
" Gasquoine, Util. of Caille Hill Cb.
p, 24-5,
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
Rebecca Clifford, by her will dated 19 Jan. 1719,
gave a yearly payment of ;^lo issuing out of premises
No. 24, in the Drapery, Northampton, for the wives
or widows of poor members of the Corporation of
Northampton. This charge was redeemed in 1915 and
the endowment now consists of jTm 6s. 8</. India
3 per cent, stock with the Official Trustees producing
j^io annually. The charity is administered by five
trustees appointed under the provi'^ions of the scheme
of the Charity Commissioners, dated 8 May 1903.
The same donor, by her will dated as above, gave a
yearly payment of £10 charged upon her messuage
and liquorice ground in Northampton, to be distri-
buted annually to the poor of Northampton. This
charge was redeemed in 1901 and the endowment of
the charity now consists of /I400 Consols with the
Official Trustees producing j^io annually. The
charity is administered by five trustees appointed
under the provisions of the scheme of the Charity
Commissioners dated 14 March 1902.
John Shortgrave, by his will dated 27 November
1775, gave a sura of ^^350, the income thereon to be
applied in the purchase of clothing for poor men of
Northampton. The endowment now consists of
^^428 IDS. 3d. Consols with the Official Trustees
producing annually ^^lo 14s., which are applied in
accordance with the trusts by the Vicar of All Saints'
and three others as trustees.
Susannah Elizabeth Jones, by her will proved at
Northampton on 13 Feb. 1909, gave to the Mayor of
Northampton for the time being, /^i,loo for the benefit
of poor widows and spinsters. The endowTnent now
consists of ;{|i,3io 14J. Sd. Consols with the Official
Trustees producing ^^32 15/. ^. annually.
Jonathan Warner, by will dated 17 July 1725, gave
j^6o, the income to be apphed in providing coats for
four poor men of Northampton. To this sum a
further £6^ 16s. lod. was added by Christopher Smyth
in order that better coats might be provided. The
endowment now consists of /200 Consols with the
Official Trustees producing £5 annually which is
expended by four trustees.
Georgiana Sophia Worley, by her wiU proved
18 May 1907, gave to her trustees the residue of her
estate (after payment of debts, legacies, etc.) to be sold,
the proceeds to be invested and the interest thereon to
be expended in providing pensions for poor widows.
The endowment of the charity now consists of sums of
£93 9s. 6d. Consols, jfi,3i6 5s. 5d. Cape of Good
Hope 3J per cent, stock, £1,300 Natal 3} per cent,
stock, j£i,8oo London Midland and Scottish Railway
4 per cent, preference stock, and £1,032 London Mid-
land and Scottish Railway 4 per cent, preference stock,
with the Official Trustees, producing approximately
£207 annually. The charity is administered by the
Vicar and Churchwardens.
George Coles, by an indenture dated I Sept. 1640,
conveyed to trustees properties situate at North-
ampton, the rents and profits to be distributed among
the poor. The charity is now administered by
trustees appointed by a scheme estabhshed by the
Charity Commissioners dated 11 July 1919. The
endowment consists of messuages known as Nos. 37
and 30, Gold Street, Northampton ; £4,714 15/. \od.
Consols, and £524 17/. jd. 5 per cent. War Stock
1929-47, with the Official Trustee?, the whole produc-
ing approximately £436 per annum.
Julia Ellen Rice, by her will dated 25 Nov. 1922,
gave a sum of £400 as a fund for providing pensions
for two poor old persons in Northampton. The
endowment now consists of £400 5 per cent. War
Stock 1929-47, with the Official Trustees, producing
£20 annually. The charity is administered by the
trustees of George Coles' Charity.
John Friend, by his will dated 29 Jan. 1683, gave
to trustees his messuage called the Black Boy and
2 acres of garden ground, the rent to be appropriated
to such charitable purposes as the trustees and the
Mayor and Justices of Northampton should think fit,
The properties were sold, and the endowment now
consists of £3,811 IS. i^d. Consols, £4,387 6s. \d.
Consols, £250 13/. ()d. 3i per cent. War Stock, £400
5 per cent. War Stock 1929-47, held by the Official
Trustees and producing £233 14J. 6d. annually. The
charity is now administered by trustees appointed
by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated
2 May 1922.
Henry Green, by his will proved at Northampton
on 26 Oct. 1922, gave to the trustees of Kettering
Road Free Church, Northampton, £100, the income
thereof to be applied by the trustees to such pur-
poses in connection with the church as they think fit.
The endowment of the charity consists of £180 is.
3 per cent, stock, standing in the names of T. T.
West, B. Nelson and John Sale, producing £5 8/.
annually.
The Royal Victoria Dispensary, to which charity
the Charitable Trusts Acts 1853 to 1914 were ex-
tended by an order of the Charity Commissioners of
21 June 1921, is now regulated by a scheme of the
Commissioners dated 9 Feb. 1923. The endowment
consists of £1,367 js. T,d. 3i per cent. Conversion
Stock, £250 India 3V per cent, stock, and £623 ifi. ()d.
Natal 3i per cent. Inscribed Stock, with the Official
Trustees, producing £78 \ls. \d. annually, which is
administered by the members for the time being of
the Board of Management of the Northampton
General Hospital as trustees towards providing con-
valescent treatment for patients or ex-patients.
By a declaration of trust dated 6 Mar. 1920 Sir
Henry Edward Randall gave £;,ooo, the interest to be
apphed in granting annuities of £25 per annum to
poor widows or spinsters of not less than 55 years of
age. The endowment now consists of £5,949 5/. i id.
^\ per cent. Conversion Stock with the Official
Trustees, producing £267 \\s. \d. yearly. This is
distributed by the trustees appointed under the
provisions of the declaration.
The endowment of the charity of Jane Porter con-
sists of £96 19/. zd. India 3J per cent, stock with the
Official Trustees and is administered by trustees
appointed by deed. The income, amounting to
£3 8.f. annually, is distributed to poor members of the
congregation of the Protestant Dissenting Chapel, in
accordance with the provisions of the deed dated
16 July 1901. The origin of the charity is unknown.
The endowment of the charity of Mary Holmes and
the charity for the Minister consists of £305 i\s. "id.
Consols with the Official Trustees, producing
£7 izs. lod. yearly, which is paid to the minister of
the Protestant Dissenting Chapel by the trustees
appointed by deed. The origin of the charities is
unknown.
John Driden, by his vsrill dated 2 Jan. 1707, among
63
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
other bequests, gave £i per annum for a sermon to
be preached one day at Christmas in remembrance of
the donor of the charity.
Daniel Herbert, by his will dated 9 Nov. 1696, gave
;^lo per annum, charged upon his farm at Burton
Latimer, for the purpose of apprenticing poor boys
resident in the borough. By an order of the Charity
Commissioners dated 6 July 1906 it was determined
that the sums of ^4°° ^^^ L^'^ Consols with the
Official Trustees should be set aside to form the
endowments of the above mentioned charities. The
income, amounting to ^^lo and £\ respectively, is
applied by the trustees.
The Almshouse adjoining St. Thomas's Hospital
was erected by Sir John Langham about the year 1682.
By an indenture dated 14 June 1797 £300 stock was
given by JuHana l.adv Langham for the benefit of the
two women inmates. The endowment of the charity
now consists of ^^92 3 3/. 3c/. Consols with the Official
Trustees, producing j^23 K. \d. annually, which is
distributed to the two almswomen. By an order of
the Charity Commissioners dated in 1870, the Vicar
and Churchwardens of All Saints' were appointed
trustees ex officio of the charity.
St. John's Hospital, formerly regulated by a
scheme of the High Court of Chancery of 15 June
1875, is now regulated by a scheme of the Charity
Commissioners dated 5 Dec. 1913. The endow-
ment of the hospital consists of considerable pro-
perties in Northampton and various sums of stock
held by the Official Trustees in trust for the charity,
as set out in the schedule of the scheme of 191 3. In
accordance with the provisions of the scheme, the
income is applied in the payment of the stipends of
the Master and of the out-pensioners of the charity,
and in supporting and maintaining the hospital and
the inmates therein. The trustees consist of 14
persons, among whom the Master and the Mayor
for the time being of Northampton are included
ex officio. The hospital has now been moved to
Weston FaveU and the building in Bridge Street sold.
U'ilham Rae, by his will proved in the Principal
Registry 13 Aug. 1906, gave £'^00 to the Weston
Favell Convalescent Home connected with the St.
John's Hospital, the income to be devoted to the pur-
chase of newspapers, periodicals and books for the use
of the patients. The endowment now consists of
j(^497 9/. 3r/. New South Wales 3^ per cent. Inscribed
Stock and ^^104 14/. id. 3J per cent. Conversion
Stock with the Official Trustees, producing [l\ Is. 6d.
yearly, which is applied by the trustees of St. John's
Hospital. The same donor by his will gave ^5,000
and the residue of his estate to the Northampton
Town and County Nursing Institution, to be in-
vested and the income devoted to the services of the
Queen's District Nurses in Northampton. The endow-
ment now consists of various sums of stocks invested
in private names, producing in 1925 approximately
^^640, which is applied by the trustees of the Queen
Victoria Nursing Institution.
The endowment of the Margaret Spencer Home of
Rest consists of ^£20,000 5 per cent. War Stock
1929-47 held by the Official Trustees, and forming
part of the endowments of the Northamptonshire
Regimental Prisoners of War Fund, as provided by a
acheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 26 Nov.
1920. TTie income, amounting to ;^i,ooo yearly, is
paid by the trustees to the Board of Management of
the Northampton General Hospital towards the
maintenance cf the Home.
The following charities are applied to the General
Hospital : —
The Rev. John Henry Smith, by his will proved at
Northampton 29 Feb. 1884, gave to the Governors of
the General Hospital ^^loo for investment. The
endowment now consists of £()<) 21. Sd. Consols with
the Official Trustees, producing £z gs. ^d. yearly.
Wilham Dash, by his will proved at Northampton
12 April 1883, gave ;^loo to be invested for the
general purposes of the hospital.
George Charles Benn, by his will proved in the
Principal Registry 14 Nov. 1895, gave his farm and
lands situate at Bozeat to the Governors for the
benefit of the hospital. The property was sold in
1896 and the net proceeds, amounting approximately
to ^^1,287, invested.
The John Putley Bequest, founded by will proved
at Taunton 17 June 1899, bequeathed to the trea-
surer of the hospital ^^loo for investment.
Mrs. Margaret Webster, by will dated 1 1 Oct.
1759, bequeathed ;£l30 to be applied to the payment
of a chaplain to the hospital to the e.xtent of ^^30 a
year for 4 years, and gave certain directions for the
performance of the duties of the chaplain.
Sir Edmund Isham, Bart., by a codicil to his will
dated 3 Jan. 1865, bequeathed j(^i,ooo stock, the
income to be apphed to the support of the chaplain.
Sarah Edwards, by will proved in the Principal
Registry 11 Mar. 1919, bequethed thesum of ^£1,000
to the treasurer of the hospital for the endowment
in perpetuity of a bed to be named the ' Sarah
Edwards " bed.
Louisa Mary Lady Knightley of Fawsley, by will
proved in the Principal Registry 3 Feb. 1914, be-
queathed to the treasurer a sum of ,{^1,000, the
interest to be apphed for the endowment of a bed to
be called ' The Rainald Knightley ' bed.
Thomas Faucott Sanders, by will proved in the
Principal Registry 3 June 1921, bequeathed the
residue of his estate for the general purposes of the
hospital.
Francis Clarke, by will proved at Northampton
27 July 1910, gave a third of the residue of his estate
to be disposed of and the proceeds invested for the
same purpose. The endowment now consists of a
sum of ;{^i,866 17;. 4(i. Consols, standing in private
names.
Mary Augusta Scott, bv will proved in the Principal
Registry 15 Mar. 1913, bequeathed ^^1,000 to the
treasurer for endowing a bed in memory of her
parents, \\'illiam and Sophia Scott.
Edwin EUard, founded by will proved in the
Principal Registry 17 Mar. 1925, whereby he devised
certain real estate in the County of Northampton,
subject to a life interest to his widow, upon trust for
the hospital. The widow of the testator is still
living.
The following charities comprise the Municipal
(Church) Charities, and are regulated by a scheme
of the Charity Commissioners dated 15 Aug. 1899 : — •
St. Thomas's Hospital is supposed to have been
founded and endowed by the citizens and burgesses
of Northampton about the year 1450 for the benefit
of the poor of the town, and was dedicated to the
64
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
memory of St. Thomas of Canterbury. By the
original foundation twelve poor people were main-
tained in the hospital upon a sm.ill weekly allowance
besides clothing and fuel, arising from bequests made
by Edward Elmar, Agnes Hopkins, Thomas Hopkins,
John Bryan, Thomas Craswcll and others. In 1654
and 1680 John Langham and Richard Massingberg
made further bequests, and in 1683 James Bales
devised considerable estates for the use and yearly
relief of the poor people of the hospital, the rents of
which were first received in 1748. In 1833 the present
hospital was erected. The income of the charity is
derived from various properties in Northampton (the
donors of which are in most cases unknown) and
considerable sums of stock held by the Official
Trustees. In 1925 the income was approximately
j^3,ooo. The number of pensioners has varied from
time to time, and in 1925 amounted to 9 in-pen-
sioners and 141 out-pensioners.
Sophia Danner, by will proved at Peterborough
13 July 1925, gave ^^250 for the benefit of St. Thomas's
Hospital. The endowment now consists of
£2SS 2/. lid. Funding Stock 1960-90 with the
Official Trustees, producing j^io 41. id. yearly.
V\'i!liam Parbery Hannen, by will proved at
Northampton 3 Feb. 1921, gave to the trustees £2^,
the interest to be applied in providing warm garments
for the oldest widow of St. Giles Street Almshouses.
This sum is now represented by ^^34 lis. 6d. Local
Loans 3 per cent, stock with the Official Trustees,
producing £1 os. Sd. yearly.
James Henry CUfden Crockett in 1924 gave ;(|l,ooo,
the interest to be used for the benefit of in and out
pensioners of St. Thomas's Hospital. This sum was
invested in £l,l'^.\. 121. ^. 4 per cent. Funding
Stock 1960-90 with the Official Trustees, producing
£45 -js. Sd. annually.
The endowment of Wades' Charity, the origin of
which is unknown, consists of a payment of £2 out
of the revenues of the town council, whereof j^l is
paid to the minister of All Saints' for a charity sermon,
13/. 4if. to the churchwardens for distribution in
bread to the poor, 3/. ^d. to the clerk, and 3/. t^.d. to
the sexton.
Robert Ives, by will dated 16 Sept. 1703, be-
queathed ;^ioo to the corporation upon trust to
purchase freehold land, the rents of which to be
appHed as follows : — 20/. yearly to the minister of
All Saints' to preach a sermon in the church on New
Year's Day, and the residue to be applied by the
mayor and minister of All Saints' for clothing
poor old men and women. The endowment now
consists of a rent charge of ^^5 issuing out of Mill
Holme Meadow.
The charities are administered by a body of
trustees consisting of 6 representative trustees and
14 co-optative trustees.
The follovnng charities comprise the Municipal
(General) Charities, and are regulated by a scheme
of the Charity Commissioners dated 30 July 1915 : —
John Ball bequeathed to the corporation ^^50,
and directed that the interest be applied in clothing
six poor vndows of the parish of All Saints on St.
Thomas's Day. The endovnnent now consists of
£$0, invested on mortgage, the interest of £2 being
distributed in money to six poor widows.
The Bugbrookc Charity, formerly the Corporation
65
Charity School and the Earl of Northampton's Gift,
was founded by indentures dated i and 2 Jan,
17SS, whereby the estate at Bugbrookc was conveyed
to the mayor, bailiffs and burgesses upon trust
that they should apply two-thirds of the rents and
profits to poor freemen of Northampton. The endow-
ment of the charity now consists of a yearly sum of
j^ioo, payable out of income of land at Bugbrookc
containing about 67 acres, also land and cottages
at Bugbrookc containing about 12 acres, which is
applied in clothing and donations to 15 poor freemen,
Thomas Crasswell in 1606 bequeathed to the
corporation £^0, the interest to be given yearly
towards the preferment of a poor maid of North-
ampton in marriage.
The endowment now consists of ^50 invested on
mortgage, producing £2 annually, which is paid to
the mayor, and distributed as above.
Matthew Sillesby by will dated 18 April 1662
gave to the mayor, bailiffs and burgesses a messuage,
tenement, garden, and a close of ground all in North-
ampton, the rents and profits to be distributed be-
tween two poor widows or widowers of Northampton,
more especially of the parish of All Saints. The
endowment now consists of ;^i,994 15^. id. Consols
with the Oflicial Trustees— ^£333 6;. Sd. Consols
in the High Court of Justice, producing ^58 4/.
annually, which is distributed to three poor widows
in annuities, together with residence at 35, Horse-
market.
Richard White, by will dated i June 1691, gave
to the mayor, baihflFs and burgesses two closes of
land at Duston, also garden ground at St. Peter
and All Saints, the rents and profits to be distributed
between two poor widows, one of whom to be of the
parish of St. Peter. The land has since been sold,
and the endowment now consists of ^^1,3 1 3 ioj. 2d.
Consols v^^th the Official Trustees, £2,178 13;. 41/.
Consols with the High Court of Justice and ;^IS0
National War Bonds (1927), the whole producing
jf94 16s. annually, which is distributed in annuities
to poor wdows.
Sir Thomas V\Ttite, by an indenture dated 26 July
1552, conveyed certain estates in Coventry and the
County of Warwick to the mayor, baihflFs, and com-
monalty the rents and profits of the estates to be
lent out in free loan to young men of Northampton.
The rents are received from the Coventry trustees
every 5 years, and lent out to young men of Northamp-
ton in sums of £100 each for 9 years without interest.
In 1922 the sum of £3,iS'^ ^S'- was received from the
Coventry Corporation, and the total amount of the
loans outstanding on 31 December 1925 was £42,900.
These charities are administered by 10 representative
trustees and 11 co-optative trustees.
Ann Camp, by her will proved at Northampton
19 April 1899, directed that the whole of her real
estate should be sold and the proceeds after payment
of certain expenses and debts, invested, the income
to be apphed in granting pensions to poor widows
or spinsters possessing the quahfications mentioned
in the will. The endowment of the charity now
consists of £3,300 invested on mortgage, £5,155 Js. 6d.
5 per cent. War Stock, and £5,333 p. Corporation
Redeemable Stock. The income is distributed in
annuities of £20 per annum to poor widows and
spinsters. The trustees of the charity arc the
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
trustees for the time being of the Municipal General
Charities.
The endowment of the charity of Samuel WoUaston
consists of a rent charge of (ji lo/. a year issuing out
of premises in Royal Terrace, Northampton, for the
benefit of the poor of Northampton. The income
is administered by the minister of All Saints' and the
mayor of the borough.
The charity of George Phillips, founded by will
proved at Northampton on 21 December 1 899, is now
regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners
of 23 March 1910. The income of the charity is
applied by the trustees for the benefit of indigent
blind persons belonging to the town and county of
Northampton.
The Northamptonshire and Peterborough Prison
Charities, consisting of the charities of Rebecca
Hussey, Margaret Countess of I.ucan, and John
Plall, are regulated by a scheme of the Charity
Commissioners dated i Nov. 1889. The endow-
ment consists of ^^1,714 13/. <^i. Consols and ^^150
National War Bonds 1928, with the Official Trustees,
producing ^£50 7/. \cl. annually, which is applied
for the benefit of discharged prisoners, preference
being given for the County of Northampton and the
Liberty of Peterborough. The trustees of the charities
are the Visiting Committee of H.M. Prison of North-
ampton.
Whiston's Gift is a lost charity. No account can
be given of a payment of £\ a year in respect of
this gift, mentioned in Gilbert's Returns. It has
not been received for many years, nor is it known
from whom it was received.
Parish of All Saints. — WiUiam Parbery Hannen,
by will proved at Northampton 3 Feb. 1921,
bequeathed to his trustees properties known as
Nos. 144 and 146, High Road, and No. ia, Villiers
Road, Willesden Green, London, the income thereof
to be distributed among the aged poor of the parishes
of All Saints and St. Katherine. The properties
were sold in 1921 and the proceeds invested in
^869 5^. \i. 5 per cent. War Stock 1929-47, in the
name of the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds.
By a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated
2 Jan. 1923 the sum of stock was apportioned
between the two parishes, each receiving ^^434 I2i. %d.
5 per cent. War Stock, 1929-47. The income,
amounting to [p.l \\s. Sd. yearly in dividends in
each case, is applied by the churchwardens of the
respective parishes. The same donor also gave the
sum of j^28 to the churchwardens of All Saints' to
provide the choir boys with a new shilling each on
Christmas Day.
F.dward Whitton, in or before 1774, bequeathed
a legacy consisting of ;^loo 4 per cent. Annuities,
the income to be applied in providing bread for poor
persons of the parishes of All Saints, St. Giles, St.
Peter and St. Sepulchre. The endowment now
consists of ;^lc>o Consols, with the Official Trustees,
producing £2 10/. yearly, each parish receiving
12/. 6d. a year. By an order of the Charity Com-
missioners, dated I August 1905 the incumbents'
churchwardens of each parish were appointed
trustees for the administration of the charity.
William Stratford, by will dated 16 July 1753,
gave /^500, the income to be applied for the benefit
of poor housekeepers and other poor. Tliis sum was
expended in the purchase of an estate at Helmdon,
which was sold in 1920, and the proceeds invested
in ;£3,II3 8/. 5^. Local Loans 3 per cent. Stock,
in tht. name of the Official Trustees. The income
amounts to ^93 8/. annually.
Francis Clarke, by will proved at Northampton
27 July 1910, gave to the vicar and churchwardens
of All Saints' ^^500 London and North Eastern Rail-
way 4 per cent. Guaranteed Stock, and ;^25o London
and North Eastern Railway 4 per cent. Guaranteed
Stock, the interest to be distributed among the sick
and aged poor of the parish. The stock has been
transferred into the name of the Official Trustees,
and the dividends, amounting to £^0 annually,
are distributed by the vicar and churchwardens.
Mrs. Dorcas Sargeant, as appears by an entry in
the vestry book of the parish of All Saints, gave the
rents of a small plot of ground in Cow Lane, North-
ampton, for the clothing of two poor widows. The
land was sold in 1877, and the endowmwent now
consists of ^^627 12/. 5<£. Consols, with the Official
Trustees, producing ^^15 13;. 8^ yearly in dividends,
which are applied by the vicar and churchwardens.
In the year ending 31 March 1926, 16 widows received
clothing.
The Beckett and Sargeant Sermon Charity was
founded by Dorothy Beckett and Anne Sargeant,
by deed dated 20 Sept. 1735. The deed (among
other things) directed the trustees to pay the yearly
sum of j^i to the vicar of All Saints' to preach a sermon
yearly on the Feast of St. Andrew in All Saints'
Church, for which purpose ^40 Consols with the
Official Trustees has been set aside.
J.imes Bracegirdle, by will dated 24 March 1633,
gave an annual rent charge of £2 issuing out of land
at Bugbrooke to be distributed among the poor of All
Saints and St. Sepulchre.
Each parish receives 16s. annually for distribution,
Ss. being deducted from the charge in respect of land
tax. The vicar and churchwardens of AU Saints'
and St. Sepulchre's are the Trustees.
Under the charity of Sir Edward Nicholjs, founded
by will dated 12 August 1708, the vicar of All Saints'
receives from the trustees ^^30 per annum for the
augmentation of the vicarage.
Parish of St. Andrew. — The charity of Miss C. E.
Hyndman was founded by deeds dated in 1836 and
1842 which provided that the interest on ^272 3 per
cent. Annuities should be applied towards the cost of
the repair of St. Andrew's Church. The endowment
now consists of ;^272 Consols with the Official Trus-
tees producing £6 l6s. annually. The charity is
administered by the churchwardens of St. Andrew's.
Parish of St. Giles. — The Feoffment Estates com-
prises the following : — The charity of Edward Watson
founded by deed dated 2 Edward VI, 1548, which
provided that the income of the charity should be
applied for the benefit of the poor of the parish. The
endowment consists of property known as ' The
Chequers ' Inn, 4 cottages and 6 doses of land at
Rothersthorpe containing about 45 acres. The
charity of George Coldwell, founded by deed dated
22 Mar. 1553, which provided that the income of
the charity should be applied for the use and relief
of the poor and for other pious and charitable uses
within the parish of St. Giles. The endowment
consists of two shops and houses known as Nos. 40
66
BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON
and 40a, Abington Street, together with the rent of
j^l per annum received from the ' Vine ' Inn. The
charity of Thomas Stone was founded by deed
dated 31 Eliz., 1589. The endowment consists of
5 houses known as Nos. 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28, Wood
Street. Tlie trusts of the charity were similar to
those of George Coldwell's charity.
Owen Dodden, by will dated 26 July 161 5, gave
/[lOO, the income to be given to the poor of the parish
of St. Giles. The money was invested in the purchase
of a dweUing house known as No. 64a, Abingdon Street,
Northampton. The house was sold in 191 3 and the
proceeds invested in ;^533 4s. 8d. Consols in the name
of the Official Trustees.
Nicholas Rothwell in 1658 gave the sum of ;^loo
to the Mayor of Northampton, the interest to be
distributed among the poor of the parish of St. Giles
and for placing out poor boy apprentices. The money
was invested in the purchase of land at Duston
containing about 32 acres.
By a deed dated 6 Apr. 1 802 the several properties
comprised in the before-mentioned charities were
conveyed to 15 trustees or feoflFees. Under the
trusts of this deed the income of the Feoffment
Estates is to be applied as follows : — To the vicar of
St. Giles the annual sum of £15 ; to the clerk and
sexton the annual sums of [i and [2. 3s. 4d. respec-
tively ; to apply the residue for the benefit of the
poor of the parish and for such other pious and
charitable uses within the parish as the trustees
should think proper. The gross income of the
charities in the year ending 1925 was about £610. It
was distributed in accordance with the directions
contained in the deed, the trustees giving a donation
of ^50 to the funds of the General Hospital and
sums of ^^15 each to the funds of St. Giles',
St. Edmund's, St. Michael's and St. Gabriel's Sunday
Schools.
The charities are administered by 15 trustees
appointed under the provisions of the deed of 6 Apr.
1802. When their number is reduced to 7 or less
new trustees arc appointed by the surviving trustees.
Arthur Goodday, by will dated 13 Jan. 1692, gave
a close of garden ground at Northampton and a
rentcharge of ^^5 per annum issuing out of No. 2,
Ambush Street, Northampton. The garden ground
was sold in 1859, and the endowment now consists
of Cifi^i 4s. 2d. Consols with the Official Trustees
producing ^^46 os. \d. annuaOy, and the rentcharge of
;^S. Under the directions contained in the will the
rentcharge is paid to the vicar of St. Giles and the
remainder of the funds distributed to the poor of the
parish in clothing and bread. The charity is ad-
ministered by the trustees of the Feoffment Estates.
Wilham Brooks Gates, by will proved in the
Principal Registry 16 May 1876, gave ;^200 upon
trust, the income to be given towards defraying the
expenses of the parish church of St. Giles and
schools. The endowment of the charity for the
church now consists of £106 4s. lod. Consols uith
the Official Trustees producing £z 13s. annually.
which is applied by the vicars and churchwardens as
above.
The Northamptonshire Orphanage for Girls stands
in St. Giles' Street. It originated in the Northampton-
shire Servants Training Institution which was founded
at Wootton in 1858, removed to St. James' Street,
Northampton, in 1861, and to the Horse Market in
1S67. In 1868 it was merged into the Northampton-
shire Orphanasje for Girls, then in process of forma-
tion, and in 1870 moved to the premises in St. Giles
Street which it now occupies — 291 girls have been
trained at the home.^*
William Stratford, by will dated 16 July 1753, gave
a sum of ;^5oo, which was laid out in the purchase of
an estate at Denton in 1755. The estate was sold
and the proceeds invested in ;^794 13s. 7d. Victoria
Government 3 per cent. Consolidated Inscribed Stock
in the name of the Official Trustees, and forms the
present endowment of the charity. The income,
amounting to £1"] \6s. 2d. annually, is distributed to
the poor of the parishes of St. Giles, St. Peter and St.
Sepulchre. Each parish receives about £() 5/. yearly,
which is distributed by the minister and church-
wardens of each respective parish.
The charity of Miss C. E. Hyndman was founded
by deeds dated in 1836 and 1842, which provided
that the interest on £224 13;. jd. Consols should be
applied towards defraying expenses in connexion with
the repair of St. Katherine's Church. This amount
is now with the Official Trustees, and produces
j^5 I2S. \d. yearly, which is applied by the church-
wardens towards church expenses.
The Rev. Robert William Stoddart, by will proved
16 Aug. 1898, gave to the rector and churchwardens
of St. Peter's ;^ioo for investment, the income to be
distributed among the poor of the parish. The en-
dowment now consists of £1)2 ()s. Sd. Consols with
the Official Trustees, producing £2 6s. annually.
The origin of the Church Estate Charity is unknown.
By an indenture dated 20 Dec. 18 James I (1620)
properties in Northampton were conveyed to the
churchwardens, the rents to be applied towards the
repair and expenses of the church. The properties
were sold in 191 1 and the proceeds invested in
;^I,I56 is. Sd. India 3i per cent, stock in the name of
the Official Trustees. The interest amounts to
j^40 ()s. 4^. yearly.
Nicholas Rothwell, who died in 1658, gave by his
will ;^loo, the income to be applied towards the relief
of the poor of the parish of St. Sepulchre. This sum
was invested in the purchase of a close of land at
Northampton which was sold in 1875 and the proceeds
invested in ;^l,l68 13/. ^d. Consols with the Official
Trustees, the present endowment of the charity.
The charity is regulated by a scheme of the Charity
Commissioners dated 8 Mar. 1918, and the income,
amounting to £2^ 4/. ^d. annually, is applied by the
trustees (of whom the churchwarden of St. Sepul-
chre is a trustee ex officio) for the benefit of the poor.
" Inf. from Mils L. H. Wake, late Hon. Sec.
67
THE HUNDRED OF POLEBROOK
CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF
BARNWELL ST. ANDREW
BENEFIELD
HEMINGTON
LUDDINGTON
OUNDLE
POLEBROOK
THURNING
WARMINGTON
This hundred lies between those of Willybrook and Navisford, with
Corby to the west. To the east it borders on Huntingdonshire. The bound-
aries of the hundred and the parishes assigned to it are not conterminous,
Thurning and \\'in\vick being partly in Huntingdonshire (Leightonstone
hundred), while part of Oundle is
in Willybrook hundred and Warm-
ington (detached) was formerly in
Willybrook hundred and afterwards
partly in Willybrook and partly in
Polebrook. In 1 888 Thurning was
wholly transferred to Northamp-
tonshire and Winwick to Hunting-
donshire.
The history goes back to early
times, for Polebrook was part of the
eight hundreds of Oundle (Eahte
hundred) confirmed to Peter-
borough in 972 by Edgar,^ and this
district again may be derived from
the 900 or 800 hides assigned to 'Wigesta' in the Tribal Hidage. The eight
hundreds were confirmed to the abbey by Eugcnius III in i 146,- by Henry IP
and Richard I^ and later kings.^ It must be noted, however, that in 1 125-8
Vivian owed is. of the ^^'? hundreds of Oundle and Geoffrey 10s. ;" and
when in 1329 the abbot was challenged to say which were his ' eight hundreds,'
it being alleged on the king's side that his predecessor had claimed only five,
viz., Polebrook, Navisford, Huxloe and North and South Naveslund, he
brought the number up to eight by adding his two hundreds of Nesse (Nassa-
burgh and the town of St. Peter) and the town of Finedon (Thingden) in
the hundred of South Naveslund, which in spite of its name, involving a
'thing,' docs not seem to have been a hundred.' It seems probable that at
some early time the abbey lost the hundred of Willybrook, for the Geld Roll
..,_.., ^
<—* ^, — > ^_-l
^•% /.-'.— V /**'•. '"••Vc" ■■■•..'>-
Index Map to the Hundred of Polebrook
1 yIngl.-Sax. Chron. 963 ; Birch, Cartul. Sax. iii, 582.
• Dugdalc, Mon. /Ingl. i, 390. ' Ibid. 391.
* Cal. Chart, iv, 274, 278.
68
^ Rot. Cart. (Rec. Com.), 82 ; Cal. Chart, i, 19.
' Liher Nigfr (Camd. Soc. 47), 167.
' Phu. lie Quo 11'nr. (Roc. Com.), 553, 555.
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
assigns 62 hides each to Polebrook, Navisford, Huxloe and Willybrook
hundreds,^ as if an older district of 250 hideg had been divided into four.
The five hundreds of Oundle were later reduced to three by the inclusion of
the Naveslunds in Huxloe.
These three hundreds of Polebrook, Navisford, and Huxloe remained
in the possession of the abbey till the Dissolution.^ In 1291 the annual value
of the hundreds of Polebrook and Huxloe was £s-^^ ^ ^^^^ °^ compositions for
sheriffs' aids, apparently of the 14th century, gives the total yearly receipts for
the hundreds of Polebrook and Navisford. In addition there was in Irthling-
borough a knight's fee of Avenel held in moieties by Walkeline de Arderne
and Robert Basset, whose tenants followed the hundreds and yearly made
fine for frank-pledge ; the vill of Barton also followed the hundreds, and the
bailiff entered to make view of frank-pledge and took a fine from the men ;
also in Sudbury the free tenants and the ' capitales franciplegii ' followed the
two great hundreds yearly. ^"^ A rental for the hundreds of Polebrook and
Navisford for 1408 has been preserved.!^ In 1462 the king made the monks
a grant of felons' goods, etc., in the abbey's hundreds of Polebrook, Huxloe,
Navisford and Nassaburgh.'- About 1535 the issues of the hundreds of
Polebrook and Navisford were estimated at £1^ los. 9^.^^
After the Dissolution the hundreds of Polebrook, Navisford and Huxloe
were in 1541 granted as jointure to Queen Catherine Howard, 1* reverting to
the Crown a year later on her execution. In i 544 the new queen, Katherine
Parr, received the hundreds of Polebrook and Navisford, together with the
castle of Fotheringhay,!^ and she retained them till her death in i 548. Robert
Tyrwhitt had been made steward of the hundreds in 1543.1® The hundreds
remained in the Crown until in 161 1 James I sold them to John Eldred and
William Whitmore,i^ who two years later sold to Sir Edward Montagu, after-
wards Lord Montagu of Boughton,i^ and thus they descended regularly to
the Dukes of Montagu and from them to the Dukes of Buccleuch.^" A writ of
* Quo Warranto ' was issued against Sir Edward Montagu regarding his rights
in the three hundreds, which were eventually allowed him.
While Queen Katherine Parr held the lordship it appears that the hundreds
of Polebrook and Navisford were put to farm for ^^14 is. i.^d. yearly ; a
court was held for the hundred of Polebrook in i 546, at which loj. was received,
as follows: Barnwell 22^/., Benefield i6<2'., Armston ^d., Luddington 6*2'.,
Thurning 14^'., Polebrook 6J., Warmington 12^., Winwick lod'., Oundle
2s. 2J., Ashton 4d'.2<' The court of the Duke of Buccleuch for the liberty and
hundred of Polebrook used to be held at Oundle in October.^i
* V.C.H. Northants, i, 259. * Bh. of Fee:, pt. ii, p. 936 ; Feud. Aids, iv. 28.
10 Pope Nic. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 55- "* W. T. Mellows, Swaffham's Reg.
" Con. MS. Nero C vii, f. 213. >« Cnl. Pat. I461-7, p. 191. 1» Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 279.
"Z.. fln</P. Hen. VIII, xvi, p. 716. iMbid. xix (i), p. 82. " Ibid, xviii (i), p. 545.
" Pat. R. 9 Jas. I, pt. 6. " Buccleuch Coll. Series Chron. p. 386 ; Bridges, Hiit. of Northants, ii, 392.
** See the account of Boughton in Weekley. ^ Mins. Accts. Henry VIII, 2661.
" Whelan, Northants, 711.
69
Scale of Feet
\m I35MCENTURY c. 1266
lil3l8aCENTURY
Plan of Barnwell Castle
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
BARNWELL ST. ANDREW
Beornwelle, Bcrnewelle (xi cent.) ; Berncwelle
Sancti AnJree (xiii cent.) ; Rernewell Moyne (xiv
cent.) ; B.irnwell, Barnwell Andree (xvi cent.) ;
Barnwell St. Andrew (xvii cent.).
This parish, to which Barnwell All Saints has been
ecclesiastically attached since 1821, covers 1,681 acres
on a subsoil of cornbrash in the west and centre and
Oxford clay in the cast, the upper soil being mixed.
The principal crops are hay, wheat, barley and beans.
Barnwell St. .Andrew lies low, rising from about
80 ft. above the ordnance datum on the bank of the
Nene, which bounds it on the north-west, to 117 ft.
at the church, and an average of 200 ft. east and
south-east of the village. A large tract of land in
the north and north-west is liable to floods. From
Barnwell .AH Saints on the south a stream flows north-
wards through the village of Barnwell St. Andrew
into the Nene. The principal road in the parish,
known as Barnwell Road, leads from Thrapston in a
north-westerly direction to Oundle. The North-
ampton and Peterborough branch of the London Mid-
land and Scottish Railway runs in the same direction
on this road ; Barnwell station is in the parish of
Lilford. The church of St. Andrew and its rectory
stand near the station and from the churchyard a
shady pathway leads over a single-arched bridge to
the ruins of Barnwell castle.
The ruins of the castle stand some 20 ft. above the
Barnwell Brook, up a small side valley opening on
to the main valley of the Nene, to the south-east of
the earthwork already described,^ which is apparently
the site of an earlier castle. The position is one of
no military importance. The castle is a quadrangular
stone structure with round towers at the angles, and
a gatehouse at the south end of the east wall, which
has semi-cylindrical towers on either side of its outer
entrance. I; is built throughout with oolite limestone,
probably from the quarries at Barnwell,^ by Berengar
le Moyne in or about 1266-* and is a good example of
the type of stronghold erected when the strengthening
of outer walls and entrances had made the keep super-
fluous and the defence of the curtains had made neces-
sary the multiplication of flanking towers. In 1257,
William de Stokes, canon of Salisbury and rector of
Barnwell St. Andrew, agreed that Berengar le Moyne
should have a chantry in his chapel in Barnwell Castle.^""
Leland, in 1540, speaks of ' four strong towers, part
of Berengarius Moynes castle ' as still remaining, and
mentions a ' raeane house for a farmer ' within the
ruins, which has long disappeared.' Half a century
or so later Camden described Barnwell Castle as ' a
little castle repaired and adorned with new buildings
by the worthy Sir Edward Montacute Knight.'*
Charles I was here on his way to Bedford in August,
1645,* and the place remained one of the residences
of the Montagu family until the latter part of the
17th century. In 1704, however, it was said to be
' late demolished '° and Stukeley in 1748 records that
the Duke of Montagu lamented that his father (who
died in 1 709) had pulled the castle down. Buck's
view shows a great gap, or breach, 42 ft. wide, in the
western curtain wall, which was afterwards filled up,
but the filling is less than half the thickness of the
original wall.
To tlie south-east of the castle is a picturesque
stone-built house with many gables and chimneys,
probably the successor of the house mentioned by
Leland, on whose porch is a shield with the arms of
Montagu quartering Monthermer.' It is now the
residence of the lord of the manor.
There are no indications of a moat or true entrench-
ments of any kind, except on the north side, where
there is a broad embankment about 6 ft. high, 220 ft.
in length, but ap)^arently not of early date.
The walls are now about 30 ft. high, probably little
less than their original height without the battle-
ments, and are 12 ft. in thickness, the masonry being
excellent and with fine joints. The enclosed space,
or ward, is an irregular oblong, the greater length
being from north to south, with the corners (except
at the south-east) cut off by angle walls. On the east
side the length is 135 ft. 4 in., on the west 133 ft. 6 in.,
while the width is go ft. 8 in. at the north end, and
94 ft. 4 in. at the south. At the south-west corner
is a single circular tower, set angle-wise, and the
north-west and north-east corners have each a similar
tower with a smaller one attached on the south-west
and north-west sides, respectively. There is a small
postern gate at the north end of the west curtain
wall, but the main entrance, as already stated, is at
the south end of the east wall.
The gatehouse follows the normal plan of the period,
being a rectangle with a passage through the middle
and with projecting half-round towers on each side
of the entrance. The passage is entered through a
porch beneath a drop arch of three chamfered orders,
springing from clustered responds with moulded
capitals, and was guarded within the arch by a port-
cullis, the grooves for which remain in the wall on
either side. Further on are two other arches forming
the abutments for outer and inner pairs of gates,
beyond which is a round-headed doorway opening to
the courtyard. The passage is vaulted throughout.
The projection of the gatehouse is entirely towards the
outside and adjoining it on the south is a semi-
cylindrical tower similar to those flanking the entrance.
All three bastions are entered from the courtyard by
round-headed doorways, and are almost identical in
plan, except that in the northern one there is a closet
about 3 ft. square in the thickness of the south
' V.C.H. yoribants, ii, 413.
' C. A. Markham, Barnwell Castle, in
Alloc. Arch. Soc. Repi. xxxi, 525, from
which much of the following deicription
ii taken by permiiiion.
*» The jurori of the hundred in 1276
pretenEed that Berengar le Moyne built
a caille at Barnwell ten yean elapied,
Roi. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 7.
"■ Buccleuch MS. no. 4.
> It is not ihown in S. & N. Buck'i
View of the Castle in 1729. Thi« drawing,
though itylcd the ' louth view,' it really
taken from the ealt.
* Brit. (Ed. Gibion), i, 407.
' C. Wile, The Monlagus of Bougblon, 23.
' Recov. R. Hil. 3 Anne ; Noribantt
N. and Q. iti, 89-93 (1890).
71
' The house and stables are probably
the ' new buildings ' mentioned by
Camden in 1586 as having been ' of late
erected ' by Sir Edward Montagu. The
•tables, which stand at right angles to the
house on the north, were rebuilt stone by
etone about fifty yean ago. Behind the
•tables i« a large barn.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
wall. The two lower chambers, or guard rooms,
have groined vaulting in two bays, with cross ribs
resting on moulded corbels, and contain each five
loopholes, three in the circular front and the others
in the side walls. The room in the south tower is
nearly square and has two loops low down facing
east and west and two others high up in the wall,
but the vaulting has been destroyed, the corbels and
springing of the ribs alone remaining. It is entered
from the court by an arched passage at the east end
Barnwell Castle
of the south wall, twisted so as to bring the inner
doorway to the middle of the wall of the chamber.
Access to the upper floor of the gatehouse was by a
flight of steps from the court in the wall north of the
passage, here curved out ; the doorway remains, but
the steps have been altered. They led to an oblong
apartment over the passage, lighted by a large window
at each end, that facing east being still entire ; traces
only of the other remain. From this apartment
doorways led to large rooms in the flanking towers,
and from the southern one to the tower beyond. The
windows in these rooms are tall, narrow openings
with acutely pointed rear arches.
Each of the three circular corner towers is entered
from the court by a round-headed doorway set across
the angle leading to a straight vaulted passage giving
into a circular chamber. In the south-west lower
the chamber has two loops only, commanding respec-
tively the western and southern curtains ; a small
vice in the thiclcness of the wall on the left of the
passage gave access to a large square room which
has a fireplace and muUioncd window of two lights.
Above this was a similar room, also with fireplace and
window. These seem to have been the principal
living rooms.
The north-west tower has four loops in the lower
chamber, and on its south-west side is an attaclied
•mailer tower containing a rectangular chamber,
formerly vaulted, with two loops, and between this
and the main tower another still smaller attached
tower, formerly containing the staircase to a room
above, A'hich had a fireplace and wooden floor. The
north-east tower is very similar in plan and general
arrangement, with loops commanding the north and
east walls, smaller attached tower on the north side
and upper room. The doorway leading into it has
been rebuilt and the whole angle appears to have been
refaced in modern times.
All the buildings inside the
courtyard have disappeared, but
on the east curtain are frag-
ments of cross walls between
which masonry is partially
plastered, indicating that it
was the east end of a large
apartment. Several parts of
the curtain inside have been
stripped of their facing stores,
leaving the rubble exposed.
Most of the loopholes have
two cross slits.
Latham's Hospital, which
stands across the road on the
south side of tlie church, was
rebuilt in 1873-4 '" ^^^ °^'^
style and is a gabled store
building facing three sides of a
quadrangle, the fourth side
open on the north to the road.
The old gateway, dated 1601,
has been preserved in the en-
closing fence wall. On it is the
inscription, ' Cast thy bread
upon the waters.'
Place names which occur are Boyespital, Jordones,
Alwoldeshallyate, Goldisplace, Childrebrigg, and
Fladerhill.
In the 14th century there was a town at Barnwell
with many tradesmen, and we find such names and
descriptions as gardener, washerwoman, ' le roper,'
weaver, ' barcar,' ' le woollemongere,' the smith,
' le parmenter,' the cobbler and the tailor in the deeds
of the Duke of Buccleuch.
There were also important
mills at Crowthorp.
In 1921 the population
numbered 167 persons.
A charter of
AUNOKS Edward the Con-
fessor confirmed
BARN fr ELL ST. ANDREW
to Ramsey Abbey as the gift
of Ethclric, Bishop of Dor-
chester," who died in 1034;'
William I and Edward III
also confirmed this grant.*" At
the Domesday Survey (1086) and again in the nth
century, the land of St. Benedict of Ramsey included
six liidcs in Barnwell. '^ Between 1 1 14 and 1130,
Abbot Reinald granted ' as an inheritance ' [in here-
dttatem] to Reginald le Moyne, liis tenant in Barnwell,
and to his sons, the lands which Reginald held of him
Ramsey Abqky. Or a
hcnd azure with three
rams' beads argent there-
on.
' Carlul. Mon. ii Ramts. (Roll» Str.),
, 73 ; Kcmblc, Cod. Dtpl. rol. iv,
no. i.rccix. The authenticity of the
latter deed, however, i> doubtful.
» Stubbs, Reg. Sacr. Angl. 33.
'" Chart R. 121, m. 13, no. 29.
" V.C.II. Norlhants, i, 319, 365*.
72
Barnwell Si. Andrew • Latham Almshouses
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
Le Muvne. Aigtnt a
crass paly gules.
in this parish and elsewhere for loos, a year and the
service of one knight's fee."^* Reginald le Moyne
was the Abbey's tenant in Barnwell from about mo
and possibly as early as 1091.*- Berengar, his son,^^
whose name appears as a witness to various deeds
between 11 14 and 1163,*^ was succeeded in or before
1166 by his son, another Reginald le Moyne,'^ who
between the years 1184 and
1 1 89 owed the service of one
knight to the abbot for a fee in
Northamptonshire.** He ap-
parently had two sons, Beren-
gar and Reginald, and wis
succeeded by his grandson
Reginald, son of Berengar,
who was dead in 1248 when
William of York, Provost of
Beverley, was guardian of
his son and heir Berengar."
In 1267 Berengar, who had
attained his majority before 1264,** was keeper of the
peace in Hunts.** and in 1270 he was one of the col-
lectors of the 20th in that county.-" Protection for
four years was granted him as a crusader in the same
year.** About 1266 he built the castle at Barnwell,
and in 1276 it was declared that he was holding a
market, fair and assize of bread and ale there without
known warrant.^ In the same year William de God-
manchester, abbot of Ramsey, bought back the
manors of Barnwell, Hemington and Crowthorp and
other lands from Berengar le Moyne, as it is said, for
^1,666 ly. ^d. and for prayers for himself and for
the souls of his father Reginald and his mother Rose.*'
The grant was confirmed by Berengar's widow
Emma in 1286.**
Barnwell being held of the king in chief, questions
arose about its alienation at this time without the
king's licence.*^
In 1329 John, son of Geoffrey of Southorpe, son
of Rose, daughter of Berengar and Emma, and Walter
Naunton, husband of Joan daughter of Margaret their
other daughter, sued the abbot for the manor of
Barnwell, which, as they alleged, had been settled on
Berengar le Moyne and his wife Emma and their
issue.** A verdict was given in favour of the Abbot,*'
and eleven years later John of Southorpe's son Robert
released to Simon Abbot of Ramsey all his right in
the manor.
After the dissolution of Ramsey Abbey Henry VIII
in 1540 granted in tail the manor of Barnwell to Sir
BARNWELL
ST. ANDREW
Edward Montagu, Chief Justice of the King's
Bench,** who had been steward of the manor for
20 years.** Sir Edward also purchased from Ralph
Agard in l553^another estate which had belonged to
William Willington of Barcheston. A few months
later he was imprisoned for his opposition to the
succession of Lady Jane Grey.'* Probably in con-
firmation of title Sir Edward Montagu, his eldest son
and heir by his third wife, Ellen daughter of John
Roper, attorney-general to Henry VIII, who
succeeded him in 1556,'* bought the reversion of
the manor granted in tail to his father, from Queen
Elizabeth in 1602 for ^^153 3s. 9d.'' He seems to
have made Barnwell Castle one of his residences, for
he left to his wife Elizabeth,
daughter of Sir James Haring-
ton of Exton, Rutland " all
my househoulde stuff in my
CasteUof Barnewelle."** By
this lady he had seven sons, of
whom the second but eldest
surviving, another Edward,
succeeded him in January
i6oi-
A settlement made
Montagu. Argent a (esse
indented gttles of three
points and a border sable,
for Montagu, quartering
Or an eagle vert Jot
MoNTHERMER.
by him rather more than two
years later included the manor
of Barnwell St. Andrew, as did
others in 161 1 and 1634.'* ^^
1604 Sir Edward and other
gentlemen of the county were
put from the Justiceship of the
Peace for favouring the Puritan ministers deprived of
their livings.'' Later on he made his peace with the
king'* and was created Baron Montagu of Boughton
in 1621.'* As a royalist he incurred the displeasure of
the Parliamentary party and was imprisoned in the
Tower. In consideration for his advanced age, he
was allowed to withdraw to his dwelling in the Savoy,
where, in his 82nd year and still a prisoner, he died
on 15 June, 1644.'"' Edward his second surviving
son, by his second wife Frances Cotton, succeeded
him. He sat as one of Cromwell's lords in 1657.''*
Edward, his eldest son by his wife Anne, daughter of
Sir Ralph Winwood,''* was killed fighting against the
Dutch. On his death in 1683 he was succeeded
by his second son Ralph,^' who with his third son
John settled Barnwell St. Andrew in 1704.^ John
succeeded him four years afterwards in his later titles
of Marquis of Monthermer and Duke of Montagu, and
died with no surviving male issue in 1749.''*
"» Cartul. Men. de Rames. (RoUi Ser.),
u, 259.
'» y.C.H. Northants. i, 365*.
'• Chron. Abb. Rames. (Rollt Ser.), 263.
'* Ibid. 259, 261, 274.
" y.C.H. Northants. i, 367 n.
" Cariul Mon. de Rames. (Rolli Ser),
in, 48.
" Rot. Rob. Grosseteste (Cant, and York
Soc), 232. See also Bucclcuch Decdi
148, A 7, 27.
" Bridges, Hisl. of Northants, ii,
393-4-
•» Cal. Pat. 1266-72, p. 132.
» Ibid. p. 418.
•' Ibid. p. 440.
" Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 7.
Nfarkct and fair had been granted him hj
royal charter (»ee below).
«• Cjriul. Mon. de Rames. (Rolls Ser.),
''i ^3^1 339i 34° > '"> '85; Add. Chart,
33063.
" Ibid. 34245 i Buccleuch Coll. 50,
H 42, 43-
" Feud. Aids, iv, 13, 28.
'* Assize R. 629, m. igd. Cartul. Mon.
de Rames. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 79-81 ; Buc-
cleuch Deeds H 62, 75. John de Southorp
was also known as John de Layham.
>' Ibid.
" Pat. R. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. 3, m. 39.
" yalor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 274,
Buccleuch Deeds, C. 5.
•"> Com. Pleas. Deeds. Enrolled East.
7 Edw. VI, m. 6.
•' Diit. Nat. Biog. ; Fuller, tVortbies of
Engl, ii, 167 ; Lord Campbell, Lives of the
Chief Justices, 170-77.
•• Did. Nat. Biog.
" Pat. R. 44 EUz. pt. 15, m. 12.
73
" P.C.C. I Mountague.
s^ Bridges, op. cit. ii, 352 ; G. E. C,
Complete Peerage, v, 342-45.
" Recov. R. Trin. 2 Jas. I, ro. 42 ;
Hil. 9 Jas. I, ro. 37 ; Trin. 9 Chas. I.
ro. 40 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 9
Chas. I.
" Winwood, Memorials, ii, 48-9.
»« Buccleugh MSS. {Hist. MSS. Com.
Rep.), p. 46.
» G. E. C. op. cit. V, 342.
*» Ibid. ; Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebel-
lion [ed. Macray], bk. vi, par. 35 ; North-
ants N. and Q. ii, 16; Cal. of Com. for
Advance of Money, i, 364 ; ii, 795.
•1 G. E. C. loc. cit ; Diet. Nat. Biog.
«' G. E. C. loc. cit.
*" Ibid. V, 342-3.
" Ibid. Recov. R. Hil. 3 Anne.
♦' G. E. C. op. cit. V, 344.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
In accordance with an Act of Parliament passed in
1723, upon the marriage of his elder daughter Isabella
with the second Duke of Manchester, his entailed
estates including Barnwell St. Andrew should have
been divided between his two daughters and coheirs,
Isabella Dowager Duchess of Manchester, then the
wife of Edward Hussey, and Mary, who in 1730
had married George Brudenell, Earl of Cardigan.^'
Each sister had an only son named John. The late
Duke had directed that this part of his inheritance
should be kept undivided and pass to his daughter
Mary and her issue, who were to pay to the Dowager
Duchess and her issue a moiety of the rents and
profits.'" This arrangement was continued until the
death of the latest survivor of the four, Edward
Hussey-Montagu, Earl of Beaulieu, in 1802.''* Mary
the younger of the two sisters died in 1775, having
survived her son five years, and in the following year
her husband, who had borne the titles of Marquis
of Monthermer and Duke of Montagu since 1766,^'
held a moiety of Barnwell St. Andrew in conjunction
with their only surviving child Elizabeth and her
husband Henry Scott, Duke of Buccleuch.^"
The manor then passed with the Buccleuch title
until 1 91 3, when the present Duke sold it to Horace
Czarnikow, who in 1920 sold the castle to Mrs.
Baiiibridge, now Mrs. W. H. McGrath."
In 1086 there were two mills rendering 24J. in
Barnwell St. Andrew.^- A grant of two weekly markets,
on Monday and Friday, and a fair on the vigil of St.
Michael and the si.x days following was made to
Berengar le Moyne in 1270.^^ This grant was
renewed to tho Abbot of Ramsey eight years later,
when the market was to be held on Wednesdays only
but the fair was to remain as before.^* These
privileges were disputed by the Abbot of Peterborough
in 1279 on the ground of the harm suffered therefrom
by his market at Oundle. A compromise was effected.
Market, pillory and tumbrel at Barnwell St. .\ndrew
were discontinued ^^ and the men of Ramsey Abbey
in that parish were appointed to come before the
Peterborough bailiffs twice a year for view of frank-
pledge, the bailiff of Ramsey Abbey being allowed to
sit with the others and receive half the fines or profits
from the Abbot of Ramsey's villeins, but to exercise
no other jurisdiction.^' A custom called ' physsilver '
or ' phisshesilver ' was paid to the lord of this manor
in the 13th century."
The Church of ST. AXDRFJf consists
CHURCH of chancel 27 ft. by 16 ft. 3 in. with north
vestry and organ chamber, clearstoried
nave 47 ft. by 18 ft. 6 in., north and south aisles, south
porch,^ and west tower 7 ft. 6 in. square surmounted
by a broach spire. All these measurements are
internal.
No part of the building is older than the 13th
century, to which period the main portion belongs, and
the plan remained unaltered until 1873, when the
organ chamber was added in the re-intrant angle of
the north aisle and chancel.^' The original work
began m the usual way at the east end about 1 250,
and progressed westward to the tower, the upper part
of which, with the clearstory, is in the geometrical
style of about 1290. It is not unlikely, however,
that the building proceeded without serious interrup-
tion over a number of years, covering more or less
the latter half of the 13th century, though the
architectural detail of the chancel arch, nave arcades,
south doorway, porch, and lower part of the tower
is of the earlier type. The north doorway and the
windows of the aisles are 14th century insertions,
and in the 15th century the chancel was largely
reconstructed, new windows being inserted and the
upper part of the walls rebuilt.
The church is built throughout of rubble with
ashlar dressings and has plain parapets and low-pitched
lead roofs. The chancel is without buttresses and
has an original string course below the sill level and
a I3tli century moulded priest's doorway with
rounded arch on jamb shafts with moulded capitals
and bases. The 15th century east window is of
five cinquefoiled lights with four-centered head and
transom at mid-height, but the mullions and tracery
are modern (1851). The two-light window at the
eastern end of the north wall was originally farther
west, but was moved to its present position when the
organ chamber was built. In the south wall are two
15th century windows, the easternmost, high up in
the wall, of three cinquefoiled lights and Perpendicular
tracery, and the other of two lights. The north
wall is open at its west end by a modern arch to the
organ chamber, and the roof is a modern one of three
bays. The double sedilia, under the easternmost
south window, belong to the 15 th century recon-
struction and have crocleted ogee canopied arches ;
the seats are level. The piscina is modern, or a
restoration. The chancel arch is of two chamfered
orders supported by corbelled shafts with richly
moulded capitals.
The 13th century nave arcades consist of three
pointed arches of two chamfered orders springing
from piers composed of four fiUetted shafts with
moulded capitals and bases, except at the west end
on the north side, where there is a plain circular
pier with more simply moulded capital and chamfered
base. The responds follow the design of the shafted
piers.*" The rood-loft doorway remains in position
over the easternmost arch of the south arcade and
part of the stairs at the end of the aisle. The
clearstory has three pointed windows on each side,
of two grouped lancets with quatrefoil in the head
under a containing arch, and the parapet is carried
on an original corbel table. At the east end of the
south aisle is a trefoilcd lancet, on either side of which
«• P.C.C. us Lille J Complete Peerage
(New Ed.) ii, 58; iii, H-'S-
«' P.C.C. Z55 Li«le.
«' Complete Peerage (New Ed.), ii, 58.
" Ibid, iii, 14.
'" Feet of F. Northanti, Eait. 16 Geo.
Ill ; Complete Peerage (New Ed.), ii,
369.
" Inf. from Rev. W. W. Baillie.
»« V.C.II. Norihanit, i, 319.
•> Cal. Chart, 1257-1300, p. 136.
" Ibid. p. 107.
'^ The Commissioner* of 1276 who
accused Berengar le Moyne indiscrimin-
ately of building a castle and holding
market, fair and assize of bread and ale,
all without warrant, did not mention
pillory and tumbrel. Rot. Uund. (Rec.
Com.) ii, 7.
" Chron Pelrob. (Camden Soc.) 31-33.
»' Cariul. Men. de Ramet (Rolls Ser.),
i, 52; iii, 316-17.
'• The north aisle is 10 ft. 6 in. wide,
and the south aisle differs in width from
7+
9 ft. It in. at the cast end to lo ft. 3 in.
at the west. The porch i» 10 ft. 6 in, by
9 ft. 6 in.
*• It was built originally as a chapel to
contain the monument of Nicholas
Latham, and was known as the Latham
Chapel.
*" There is a measured drawing of the
Routh arcade, with details, in Sharpens
Chi. of the Nene f'tiUry, plate 47. 'I"hc
height of the piers, to top of capital, ii
7 ft. 9 in.
o
H
U
3
O
c/2
a:
a
U
CO
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
internally is a crocketed ogee niche of 14th century
date, which with the window formed a teredos to the
aisle altar. In the south wall, in the usual position,
is a plain pointed piscina with cusped bowl, and above
it a small round headed opening with sloping sill,
which in spite of its heiglii above the ground seems
to have been a lowside window.'' The two 14th
century windows in the south wall are square-headed
of two trefoiled lights, and there is reason to believe
that the wall was rebuilt when they were erected.^'
The pointed west window of this aisle is
c. 1280 of two elongated trefoiled lights ••■-j^-.=vr
with moulded jambs.
The south doorway is a very good ex-
ample of 13th century work, of two moulded
orders, the outer ornamented with dog-
tooth, on double jamb shafts with moulded
capitals and bases, the inner shafts banded
at mid-height. The porch has a wide
gable with plain coping, stone slated roof,
and pointed outer arch of two hollow
chamfered orders, and large nail-head hood-
mould with mask terminations, on shafted
jambs with moulded capitals.** There is
a sundial in the gable.
The north doorway is equally good 14th
century work, of two moulded orders, on
shafted jambs, the capitals carved with oak
leaves on either side of a human head,**
and the windows in the north wall are all
pointed and of two trefoiled lights. That
formerly at the east end of the aisle is
now in the north wall of the organ cham-
ber ; the west window is of earlier type,
of two plain lights with quatrefoil in the
head. At the east end of the aisle, origin-
ally below the window, is a 14th century
reredos consisting of three crocketed ogee
trefoiled arches, the middle one wider than
the others, with a band of quatrefoils and
heads above,** and on the east respond
of the arcade adjoining, at a height of
34 inches from the floor, a small projecting trefoil
headed niche.
The tower is of three stages with moulded plinth
and projecting vice in the south-east angle, but is
without buttresses. The upper stage has a slight
setback, and the bell-chamber windows are of two
trefoiled lights with quatrefoil above, mid-shafts,
and moulded jambs, the arches richly ornamented
with dog-tooth and flowers in the outer order. The
spire has plain angles and three sets of lights on each
of its cardinal faces. The west doorway is of two
moulded orders on shafted jambs with moulded
capitals and bases, and above it is a window of two
trefoiled lights. In the middle stage on the south
side is a circular moulded opening enriched with
dog-tooth and flower ornament. The tower arch is
of three chamfered orders dying into the wall.
BARNWELL
ST. ANDREW
The font is of early 14th century date, and has a
richly ornamented bowl with cusped and crocketed
niches on seven sides, tlic west face being blank.
The oak pulpit is of Elizabethan, or early 17th
century date, with arcaded p.incls ; it stands on a
modern stone base. The otiier fittings are modern.
The monument to Nicholas Latham (d. 1620),
founder of the hospitals at Barnwell and Oundle, after
removal from the chancel to the chapel in 1873, was
re-erected on the north wall of the chancel about
Barnwell St. Andrew : The South Porch
1907. It is coloured and bears the bust of Latham,
who is described as ' parson of this church only the
space of 51 years.' On the south wall is a brass plate
to John Orton, ' first warden of Parson Latham's
hospital,' who died in 1607 ' in the yeare of his age
loi,' and another with Latin inscription, formerly
in All Saints' Church, to the memory of Christopher
Freeman {i. 1610), who is depicted kneeling with
his wife and eight children at an altar.^* In the south
aisle is a floor slab to John and Robert Carter, who
died in September and November 1698, and a painted
board in the north aisle commemorates Elizabeth,
daughter of William Worthington, rector ; she died
in 1665.
There is some old glass in one of the south windows
of the chancel and in a window in the belfry.*'
There are two bells in the tower, the first medieval,
" C. A. Markham in Ai%oc. Arch. Soc.
Rfpi. xxix. The sill is 5 ft. 5 in. above
the floor, at the ume level as that of the
adjacent window.
•« There is no string in the east wall of
the aisle below the 13th century lancet,
but a 14th century string runs the length
of the south wall at sill level between the
end buttresses.
•» The bases are hidden, and the jambs
lean outwards.
•* On one side the leaves issue from the
mouth.
•' The wall was pierced through the
arches when the organ-chamber was
built.
" The bnss is figured in Franklin
Hudson, Brasiei of Nortbantt : * the man
75
and woman kneel one on each side of an
aitar . . . behind the man arc the effigici
of four sons and behind the woman are
four daughters, all kneeling.'
*' Bridges records the ' portraits of
three persons in episcopal habits ' in the
upper south window of the chancel, op cit.
", 393-
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
with the letter S three times alternating with a cross
patonce and a mark generally ascribed to Richard
Mellor of Nottingham (1488-1508) ; the second bell
is by Thomas Norris, 1658.^
The plate consists of a cup of 1570, a paten of
c. 1684, a dish of 1636, a flagon of 1869, a modern
medieval chalice of 1871, and a paten of 1872.''
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i)
baptisms, marriages and burials 1558-1727 ; (ii)
baptisms and burials 1727-1812, marriages 1727-53 ;
(iii) marriages 1754-1812. In the second volume
is a list of briefs 1 741-3, and several lists of the
' warden, sub-warden, brethren, sisters and nurses
of Mr. Nicholas Latham's Hospital in Barnwell,'
1744-50. The churchwardens' accounts begin in
1742.
There was a priest in Barnwell
ADVOWSON St. Andrew in 1086™ but no direct
mention of the church itself seems to
be preserved before 1178 when Pope Alexander con-
firmed to Ramsey Abbey among many other of its
possessions Barnwell with its church.'^ At that date,
however, both manor and advowson belonged to the
earlier Berengar le Moyne (see above) and the rights
assured to the Abbot were those of overlordship
merely. The advowson has followed the descent
of the manor down to 1920, when Mr. Czarnikow sol J
the manor but retained the advowson. The rectory
has also followed the same descent. A carucate of
land and six acres belonged to it in the 13th century"
and in 1535 its profits amounted to £ij izs. 6J."
The rector also received one sheaf from the tithes of
the lord in Barnwell St. Andrew, the other two,
formerly of Berengar le Moyne, being afterwards
paid to the sacristan, who had a portion of £i 13/. \d.
in the church.'* By an Act of 1830 all ancient tithes
and glebeland in the united parishes of Barnwell St.
Andrew and Barnwell All Saints were commuted for
3 1 acres I rood 2 perches of land annexed to the rectory
and an annual rent of £^oP^ The parsonage house
of the 1 6th century" was rebuilt by the Dowager
Duchess of Buccleuch about 1820."
There was a chapel in the Castle.'* The church has
always been dedicated to St. Andrew."*
Parson Latham's Hospital in
CHARITIES Barnwell, founded and incorporated
pursuant to the Statute 39 Eliz.
cap. 5 ly Deed Poll dated 2 1 February, i James L (1604)
and including the charity of William Bigley for the
inmates founded by will proved in Prerogative
Court of Canterbury 11 Oct. 1834, '^ regulated by a
scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 2 Feb.
1923. The general property of the charity consists
of the almshouse buildings, land situated in the
counties of Huntingdon and Northampton and com-
prising about 350 acres, rent-charges of ^20 issuing
out of hereditaments in Pilton, Stoke Doyle and
Wadenhoe and two cottages at Ringstead and Clapton.
The Ringstead property consists of 109 a. 2 r. 12 p.
of land with farm and cottages at Ringstead and a
sum of ;^25 Consols. The Shelton property consists
of 66 acres of land in Shelton in the county of
Bedford. The endowment of Bigley's Charity
consists of a sum of £'!■■,'] SS ^^- 1^- Consols which
forms the Repair Fund and any income not required
for repairs is invested in augmentation of the fund.
Of the income from the Ringstead lands ||ths is
paid to the trustees of the Latham and Bigley
Educational Foundation. The land belonging to the
hospital produced ^^462 \os. in 1923 and ^^224 11$. 6d.
was paid to the inmates, ^^lo spent on medical
attendance, and £y distributed to poor of Rushden,
Ringstead and Higham Ferrers. The stock is with
the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds.
The Montagu Dole. — A sum of 6s. Sd. yearly is
payable out of the estates of Lord Montagu for
distribution to the poor. The origin of the charity is
unknown.
BENEFIELD
Benefield (xi cent.) ; Banefield, Benifeld (xii cent.) ;
Beningfelde, Benefilde, Berifelde, Benetfeld, Beni-
feud, Beningfeud (xiii cent.); Benyngfielde alias
Beneficlde alias Beddingfielde (xvi cent.).
This parish, to which the hamlets of Biggin and
Churchfield, formerly in Oundle, were transferred in
1894, contains 5,664 acres of clay land on a subsoil
of Oxford clay in the north and cornbrash in the
south. Nearly the whole of this area is permanent
grass, less than a fifth is arable land, growing barley
and wheat, and some 356 acres are woodland and
plantations. The land rises about 100 ft. from cast to
west, where it reaches 300 ft. above the ordnance
datum. The principal road is the highway from
Kettering to Oundle, which enters Benefield from
Great Wcldon on the west and leads eastwards into
Upper Benefield, formerly called Uppthorpe, Over-
thorpe or Upperthorpe. Here there is a good deal
of woodland, called in 1800 the Spring, Cockendale,
and Blackthorns Woods ; here also are the reservoir,
some farms and Benefield and Springwood Lodges.
Tlie village lies some distance southwards, in Lower
Benefield, or Netherthorp, as it was called in the
17th century and later. The church of St. Mary
stands on rising ground and adjoining it on the west
is the moated site of the castle of the Lisurs. The
date of the erection of the castle is unknown, but it
may well have been one of tlie numerous forts thrown
up during the anarchy of Stephen's reign (1138-44).
It was in existence in 1208, when John seized it for
the debts of Hugh de Lisurs.* On 15 May 1264, the
day following the Battle of Lewes, Henry III, while
** For intcriptioni kc North, Cb. BiUi
of NoTihantt^ 190 ; the date of the iccond
bell it wrongly given it 1678. For S.S.
belli »ec North, Cb. Belli of Lincotntbtrt,
Ii8.
•» Markhim. Cb. Plan of Noribami,
28.
"V.C.ll. Norlband, i, 319.
" Carlul. Men. di Ramn, ii, 136-37.
" Carlul. Mon. de Ramet. (Rolli. Ser.),
i, 48.
'• Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.) iv, 292.
'♦ Cartul. Mon. de Ramet. (Rolli. Ser.)
i, 48; ii, 182, 207; Pope Nicb. 7a.x
(Rec. Com.), 39* ; Add. Chart. 33665.
" Local and Personal Acti, Ii Geo. iv,
cap. 79.
" Valor Eecl.\ot. at.
" Local and Personal Acts, loc. cit.
'» Carlul. Mon. de Ramrr. (Rolli Ser.)
i, 54 ; Ducclcnch MSS. (Ouugliton Houic),
no. 4.
'• Carlul. Mon. de Ramrs. (RolU Ser.),
i, 48 i Rol. Rob. Grosseleili (Cant, and
York Soc), 232.
' Rol. Lilt. Pat. John (Rec. Com.), 79b,
97b.
76
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
BENEFIELD
a prisoner with Simon de Montfort, issued a mandate
to the knights and others in Benefield Castle, stating
that peace having been made between the king and
his barons, they were not to go out of the castle nor
do any ill in those parts.' It was probably in the
following year that, the castle being held for Edward
the king's son, the men of the castle plundered the
manor of Biggin and crossed the river to Oundle,
where and at Ashton they took a number of cattle.
The men of Oundle, however, made a counter-attack
and recovered many of their beasts.* Not long after
this date the castle was probably dismantled. In
1298 it is described as an old castle,* and in 1315 the
site of the castle only is referred to.^ It continued
a ruin and is so described in 1 378.' Lcland about
1535 mentions the site as ' the diche and mines of an
old castelle.' ' Part of the wall was still standing in
Bridges' time (1724), when the inclosure was said to
be square, covering about an acre of land. On the
north of it was the manor house,* which apparently
superseded the castle and is mentioned in 1445.
A furlong to the west of the village are nine Swallow
Holes where the land floods occasionally flow and
disappear. Banhaw Wood (the Banho or Danho
in the 14th century) was said to be within the metes
of Rockingham Forest, and Humphrey de Bassing-
bourne obtained licence to inclose 100 acres of its
waste.' In 1820 the wood covered nearly 312 acres
on the south of the parish. Eastward of this wood
are the hamlets of Churchfield and Biggin Hall with
■jl large part of its grounds, the rest of which are still
in Oundle.
An Act of 1820 for the inclosure of certain waste
and commonable lands in this parish preserves many
place names, such as Northaws, Cobs Hurn, David's
Leys, Rimington, Cockmore and Nuthalls Closes.^"
Other place names which occur are Ouldwalles and
Pottereswaye, a lane near Banhaw Wood, and Fezauntes
landes. In 1921 the inhabitants of Benefield num-
bered 410. The modern parish of Beanfield I, awns
in the Hundred of Corby, which was for some pur-
poses considered part of Benefield, though extra
parochial in 1831,^ lies about three miles distant
from it. It was perhaps part of the King's fee in the
Ilth and 12th centuries.^ Henry II granted the
Abbey of Pipewell its pasturage and herbage, which
the Abbot exchanged in 1356 for the advowson of
the church of Geddington.^' Many references to
leases or grants of the custody of the launds of
Pkterborougu Abbey.
Gulc! two crossed keys or.
Benefield and to the capital messuage here are found
in public records.**
Domesday Book accounts only for
MANOR three virgates of land in BENEFIELD,
which were of the King's fee*^ and were
• held in chief by knight's service until the latter part
of the l6th century. The service varied from that
of one to a quarter of a knight's fee.**
Wulfhere, King of the Mercians, according to a
spurious charter, gave Benefield to the Abbey of
Peterborough in 664," but
Domesday Book contains no
mention of any such fee. A
single hide in the Hundred of
Stokes that the Survey of the
1 2th century ascribes to Bene-
field, now a farm south of
Rockingham,** was amongst
the Peterborough lands at that
date.*' The overlordship of
the manor remained with
Peterborough until the Disso-
lution,^' when the manor was
held direct of the Crown.^*
Richard de Engaine was tenant of Benefield at the
time of the Domesday Survey (1086)^^ and in the
1 2th century it had passed to the Lisurs.^' According
to a charter of 1 1 66 R[ichard] de Lisurs describes
Richard de Engaine as his grandfather.^ It would
appear that Richard de Engaine married more than
once and the last of his wives was the widow of
Richard Fitz Urse.-* His son, Viel or Vitalis,
apparently married the daughter and heir of William
de Lisurs?' and had two sons, Richard and Fulk, the
former of whom occasionally and the latter regularly
used their mother's surname." Fulk de Lisurs, who
succeeded to Benefield, was the King's forester in fee
and attended the King with his horn hanging from
his neck.-* He married Alice or Adelis, sister of
WiUiam de Auberville,'' and died before 1185.^
His son, William de Lisurs, married Isabel, daughter
of Simon Fitz Simon,** and died without issue in 1194.
He left two brothers, Hugh and Fulk,*^ and was
succeeded by Hugh,** who died about 1207, leaving
two daughters, Alice, who married Nicholas de
Bassingbourne, and Eleinor, the v^fe of William de
Ayshe.** The manor and castle of Benefield were
seized by the Crown for debts owing by Hugh de
Lisurs,*^ but were recovered by John de Bassing-
• Cal. Pat., 1258-66, p. 318.
• Sparke, Hiit. Angl. Script, iii, 135.
• Cal, Inq. iii, no. 468.
» Cott. MS. Vesp. E. Jtxi, fol. 30b.
• Chan. Inq. p.m. Rich. II, file 4,
no. 8.
' Itinerary (ed. Toulmin-Smith), i,
12,13.
• Bridges, op. cit. ii, 395.
'Cat. Pat. 1313-17, p. 453.
" Private Aft, i Geo. IV, cap. 31.
•' Pop. Returns.
'• V.C.H. Northanu, i, 356a, 365*.
'• Cal. Chart. 1226-57, p. 389; 1257-
1300, p. 408 ; Cal. Pat. 1354-8, p. 423.
"Ibid. 1377-81, pp. 170, 407; 1381-
85. p- >77; '396-99, P- '9^; '4'3->6
p. 232,235, 262.
" V.C.H. Northanu, i, 356a, 365A.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 24
no. 15 ; file 84, no. 4 ; Edw. Ill, file 90
no. 8 ; file 193, no. 15 ; file 208, no. 25 ;
Ric. II, file 4, no. 8 ; Hen. IV, file 90,
no. 15; (ser. 2), ccx, 90; Chan. Misc.
file 12, no. 7, m. 1 ; Chan. Inq. a.q.d.
file 208, no. 4 i Fine R. 170, m. 10 ;
Pat. R. 8 Eliz. pt. i, m. 27; 33 Eliz.
pt. 8, m. 33.
" V.C.H. Northants,n, \2\, 576.
'» Ibid, i, 386*.
" Bridges, Hist. Northants, ii, 395.
*" Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), xxxiv,
no. 81.
" Pat. R. 8 Eliz. pt. I, m. 27 ; 32 Eliz.
pt. 14, m. 31.
" V.C.H. Northanu, i, 356a.
" Ibid. 365*.
" Red Bk. ofExcheq. (Rolls Ser.) i, 333.
The editor suggests from a similar entry
in the Liber Niger that R. is a scribal
error for Ffulk], but there seems to be no
reason why Richard should not have held
77
in 1 166 and Fulk his brother should not
have succeeded him.
» Ibid.
=» Pytchley, Bk. of Fees (Northants
Rec. Soc), 76 n. Viel is, however, here
stated to be son of William Engaine.
»' Complete Peerage (New Ed.) v, 72-3 ;
cf. Red. Bk. loc. cit.
" Red. Bk. of Excbeq. (Rolls Ser.) i,
333-
" Cat. Amt. D. (P.R.O.) ii, c. 2002;
Maitland, Bracton's Note Bk. ii, 251 ;
Pytchley's Bk. of Fees, 76 j Wrottesley,
Ped.from Plea Rolls, 4, 62.
•" Complete Peerage, loc. cit.
" Cat. Anct. D. (P.R.O.) ii, C. 2021.
"Ibid. C. 2004; Curia Regis R. ii,
309.
" Complete Peerage, loc. cit.
•* Maitland, Bracton's Note Bk. iii, 4-5.
•»/?o/. Lilt. Pat. Job. (Rec. Com.), 79*.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Bassisgbourne. Gy~
Tonny argent and gules.
bourne in 1213.^ In 1216 King John granted the
manor to Baldwin de Gisnes*' possibly on account
of Nicholas's debts, in which we find him involved in
1222.^ Nicholas was paying scutage for his fee in
Benefield in 1236 and 1243.**
In or before 1252, he was
succeeded by his son, Hum-
phrey,'*" who, in 1273, leased
the castle and manor of Bene-
field to Queen Eleanor, the
King's mother, for ;^ioo a
year, the rent of the first
twenty-five years being paid
in advance to acquit Hum-
phrey of his debts to the
Jews.^' Humphrey died about
1280,''- and in 1298 Benefield
passed from his son and heir
of the saiLe name to his grandson, another Humphrey
de Bassingbourne,*^ lord of the manor in 1 3 16.*' This
Humphrey obtained a grant of free warren in 1321,**
a liberty which his son, another Humphrey, main-
tained at law some eight years later.^ In 1330
Humphrey de Bassingbourne had three sons living,"
but by 134.3 Giles, the eldest, had died, leaving a
daughter and heir, Margaret,** and Benefield was
settled on her marriage with Walter, son of Robert
de Colvile.** Walter and Margaret succeeded Hum-
phrey in 1349,*" Margaret being then fourteen,
Walter not quite eight years old.^^ Walter was dead
before the close of 1367, and his infant son, Robert,
survived him less than two years.^^ In accordance
with the settlement of 1343 the castle and manor of
Benefield descended to the heirs of Robert de Colvile,
Walter's father.^^ These were Ralph Basset of
Sapcote and John Gernoun, the former being grandson
of Elizabeth, one sister, the latter son of AHce, the
other sister of Robert's father, Edmund de Colvile.^*
In 1377 the manor of Benefield was settled on Ralph
Basset,^ who died seised of the manor and castle in
the following year.*^' His widow, Alice, held the
manor and a third of the castle as dower. She died
in 1412, when her heirs were their daughter, Elizabeth,
wife of Richard Lord de Grey, and Robert Moton,
grandson of Alice, Ralph's elder daughter,^* whose
father, William Moton, had died seised of the site
of the castle and lands in Benefield nearly twenty
years before." Richard Lord de Grey died in 1418
seised of the manor and a moiety of the castle in right
of his wife, Elizabeth.^ In 1445 Elizabeth, who
survi\ed her husband about thirty-three years, settled
the manor on John Zouche and his wife, her daughter
Elizabeth,^' and a few months before her death she
granted them her moiety of the castle.^ John
Zouche, who had settled a third of the manor on his
second wife, Eleanor, widow of John Melton, died
in 1501. At her death in 1519"'^ she was succeeded
by her son, John Zouche. In 1529 his younger
brother David claimed for himself and his late
brother Lionel, a share in the family estates under
his father's will.*^ John Zouche was succeeded about
153163 by his son and heir George, who died in 1557.
His son and heir was another Sir John Zouche,®* who
with his wife Elizabeth settled the castle and manor.*-''
He died in 1586*' and his son
John Zouche with his wife
Mary settled the manor in
1590*' and in the following
year sold it to Sir Christopher
Hatton, the Lord Chancel-
lor.^ Sir Christopher died
without issue in 1591, heavily
in debt to the Crown.** His
heir was his nephew William,
son of his sister Dorothy, wife
of John Newport, who took
the ?urname of Hatton on his
uncle's death.™ In 1 594 Sir
William Hatton settled the castle and manor of Bene-
field on himself and his heirs male with remainder to
his daughter Frances. William and Francis Tate,"
two of the trustees, obtained a lease of the property
from the Crown the next year.'^ Sir William died
without male issue within two years.'^ According
to the settlement of the late Lord Chancellor,'*
Benefield should have passed to Sir Christopher
Hatton of Kirby, his first cousin,'^ but Sir Robert
Rich and his wife Frances, Sir William Hatton's
daughter, obtained the interests of the Crown and
of the Zouche and Hatton families.'* In 1641
Robert, then Earl of Warwick, with Robert and
Charles Rich, his sons by Frances, made a settlement
of the castle and manor of Benefield among other
estates on the marriage of Charles with Mary,
Zouche. Gules bezanly
and a quarter ermine.
pt.
Close
** Rot. Lit. Pal. JoM. (Rcc. Com.), 97*.
*' Chan. jMisc. bdle. 12, no. 7.
"Pipe R. 66, m. 6d ; 67, m. 1 3,/.
" ^*- «/ F'", pt- i, 494-99 i
S°i-S, 937-
" Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script. 56.
♦'Chart. R. 63, m. 5; Cat.
'*72-79i PP- "Z, 113-
•"Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 24,
no. 15.
"Cal. Inij. p.m. iii, no. 468.
«• Feud. Aids, iv, 28.
"Chart. R, 107, m. i.
"Plac. de Quo fVar. (Rec. Com.), 510.
♦' Chan. Inq. j.q.d. file 208, no. 4.
"Cal. Pat. 1343-45. P- '4'-
" Feet of F. Div. Coi. caie 287,
file 41, no. 345.
»" Ibid. Northanti. cjie 177, file 77,
noi. 290, 293.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. F.dw. Ill, file 90,
no. 8; Cloie R. 185, m. 27.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. Ill, file 193,
no. ■; ; file 208, no. 25.
" Feet of F. Div. Cos. case 287, file
41, no. 345.
'* Fine R. 170, m. 10.
"Close R. 217, m. 3od ; 218, m.
26.
"^ Chan. Inq. p.m. Ric. II, file 4
no. 8.
"Ibid. Hen. IV, file go, no. 15.
" Ibid. Ric. 11, file 75, no. 21.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. Ilcn. V, file 30,
no. ;.
"Close R. 295, mm. 3d, i6d ; 297,
m. I5d. Chan. Misc. bdlc. 14, file 2,
no. 12.
•"Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. \'I, file 144,
no. 34.
"Ibid. (ser. 2), xxxiv, no. 81.
•• Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 599, no«. 55,
56.57-.
•• Bridges, loc. cit. j Glover, llist.
Derby, ii, 342.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), cix, 19.
•» Pat. R. 8 Elil. pt. I , m. 27 i Feet of
F. Div. Coi. East. 8 Eliz.
" Ch.in. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), ccx, 90.
"Pat. R. 32 Eliz. pt. 14, m. 31;
33 Eliz. pt. 8, m. 33.
•* Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 32
Eliz. ; Hil. 33 Eliz. ; Recov. R. Mich.
32 Eliz. ro. 64.
•" Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), cccxxix,
193 ; Pat. R. 37 Eliz. pt. 18, m. 19.
'"Baker, Hist. Northants, i, 196;
Diet. Nat. Biog.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), cccxxix,
'93-
"Pat. R. 37 Eliz. pt. i8, m. 19.
'•Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. 2), cccxxix,
193.
" Diet. Nat. Biog.
"Baker, loc. cit. j Chan. Inq. p.m.
(ser. 2), ccclxxvi, 100.
'• I-cct of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 9 Jas. I;
Ibid. Northants, Trin. 12 Jas. I ; Hil.
14 Jas. I; Mich. 1; Jas. I; Notes of
Fines, East. 14 Jas. I ; Pat. R. 14 Jas. I,
pt. 22, m. II.
78
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
BENEFIELD
^^
Rich. CiJes a cbtveron
betvieen ihree crossUn or.
daughter of the Earl of Cork." Charles, who suc-
ceeded his elder brother in the earldom in 1659,'*
with his wife Mary, sold Bencfield in 1666 to Thomas
Bromfield of London and others,'* possibly acting
on behalf of Sir Thomas
Middleton, who held the
manor from 1676 to 1689.*"
Shortly after this date the
manor was held by William
Marquis of Powis, who already
held the adjoining manor of
Oundle. In 1724 he sold
Benefield to James Joye," and
from this date it followed the
descent of Oundle (g.v.).
In 1280 there was a wind-
mill'- in the Peterborough fee,
and in 1367 a windmill and a
watermill** probably stood on the same sites as the
two mills of the manor of 1566. A dovecote also is
mentioned** at this date. Sir Thomas Bnidcnel
received a grant of free warren within the manor of
Benefield in 1616.** The Knights Templars held
view of frankpledge over their tenants in Benefield,
as did their successors of the Hospital of St. John
of Jerusalem in England.**
The church of ST. MART stands
CHURCH on the south-west side of the
village and consists of chancel with
vestry, clearstoricd nave of four bays, north and south
aisles, north porch, and west tower surmounted by
a broach spire. At the east end of the north aisle
is a transeptal extension formerly used as a choir
vestrv, but since 1925 as a memorial chapel.*'
With the exception of the chancel, which is of
14th-century date, the whole of the church was rebuilt
in 1847 at the charges of James Watts Russell, the
patron,** in a style roughly approximating to that
of the older parts (14th century) of the building then
pulled down, but diflfering in many respects from that
structure. The aisles and vestry are under separate
gabled roofs, and all the roofs are eaved and covered
with grey slates. Bridges describes the old church
as consisting of ' body, north and south aisles and
chancel, all leaded,'** with an embattled tower and
spire at the west end : the chancel also was embattled,
and the north aisle was prolonged at its east end as a
chapel, covering the chancel for about a third of its
length. A drawing of the building made before its
demolition shows the nave and north aisle** to have
been completely niodernised, probably in the 1 8th
century, the windows of the clearstory being elliptical
and those of the aisle plain undivided pointed open-
ings.'* There was a north doorway to the chancel.
The upper part of the present tower differs completely
from the original design, which had single pointed
bell-chamber windows of two lights. The chancel
was restored and modernised internally in 1847, and
a screen erected, but the elaborate mural decorations
then carried out perished in course of time, necessi-
tating a further restoration in 1897, when a new altar
and reredos were erected and other work carried out.'^
In 1901 the south-west corner of the tower was
underpinned and rebuilt, and the spire repaired.*'
The chancel has an original east window of five
lights with reticulated tracery, restored in parts. On
the south side are three restored windows of two lights,
and a similar single window at the east end of the
north wall. The chancel has double angle buttresses
of two st.ages, and a moulded plinth and string. The
piscina and sedilia were 'renewed' in 1847. Three
carved misericord seats, said to have come originally
from Fotheringhay church, were purchased at Tansor
in 1899 and placed in the chancel, one on the north
and two on the south side. In 1904 a loft was added
to the screen,** and above it a rood with attendant
figures, a staircase being added in 1906. All the other
fittings, together with the font and pulpit, are
modern.
In the chancel is a brass plate to Elizabeth Grant
(d. 1608) inscribed ' my child-bed was my death-bed :
thanks I gave to God that gave a child, and so I died.'
Under the tower is a marble slab to Mark Lewis,
S.T.P., rector (d. 1620).
Until 191 1 there were five bells, but in that year
a treble, by Taylor of Loughborough, was added,
making a ring of six. The second (old treble) is by
Henry Penn of Peterborough, 171 3, the third by
Thomas Eayre of Kettering, 1755, the fourth by
C. and G. Mears of London, 1847, the fifth dated
1733, and the tenor by R. Taylor of St. Neots, 1815.*'
The silver plate consists of a cup and cover paten
of 1570, a paten of 1637 inscribed with the names of
the churchwardens of 1658, and a silver-gilt cup, two
patens, and a flagon of 1843. There is also a modern
plated cup, paten and flagon.'*
The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i)
baptisms 1570-1705, marriages 1570-1695, burials
1570-1684; (ii) baptisms 1705-1742, marriages 1696-
1742, burials 1685-1742 ; (iii) baptisms 1743-1812,
marriagesi743-l778, burials 1743-1812; (iv) marriages
1778-1812.
" Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 17 Chas. I ;
G.E.C. Complete Peerage, viii, 65.
'» Ibid.
'» Recov. R. Mich. 18 Chai.
226; Com. Pleaj, D. Enr.
|g Char II, m. lod.
••Inst. BIcs. (P.R.O.)j Feet
Northants, Mich. 29 Chas. II;
I Will, and Mary; Recov. R.
1 Will, and Mary, ro. 308.
•' Feet of F. Northants, Trin.
Ceo. I.
•• Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file
no. 15.
•> Ibid. Edw. Ill, file 193, no. 15.
•• Pat. R. 8 Eliz. pt. I, m. 27.
"Ibid. 14 Jas. I, pt. ii, m. 14.
•• Plae. de Quo Ifar. (Rec. Com.), 531.
" In memory of Capt. A. E. Watts
II, ro.
Mich.
of F.
Mich.
Mich.
24.
Russell. The internal dimensions of the
church are : chancel 35 ft. by 18 ft.,
nave 54 ft. by 20 ft. 6 in., north aisle
13 ft. wide, south aisle 17 ft., tower
9 ft. 9 in. square.
" Designed by Mr. Derrick, of Oxford.
" Bridges Hisl. of Norihants, ii, 39S.
'^^ The drawing is from the north ;
probably the south aisle was modernised
also.
'* There were four windows and two
doorways in the north wall of the aisle.
" The altar and reredos were designed
by Mr. J. .N. Comper. During this
restoration a piscina was uncovered in the
south wall of the chapel (now vestry)
north of the chancel. Its state not
allowing of restoration, a new one was put
in itt place.
79
*• When the nave was rebuilt In 1847
the ground was considerably lowered,
and the footings of the tower on the south
fide were only about 15 in. below the
surface.
" The Royal Arms were placed on the
screen at this time, flanked by those of
Dr. Carr Glynn (Rishop of Peter-
borough), and of the Ven. E. M. Moore,
Archdeacon of Oakham (rector 1876-
1907), who was the promoter of the
works of restoration within that period.
He was also a generous donor. The loft
and rood were designed by Mr. J. N.
Comper.
•^ The Inscriptions on the old bella are
given in North, Ch. Bells of Northants.
(1878), 190.
•• Markham, Ch. Plate of Northants. 31.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
The church*' was in the gift of the
ADVOWSON lord of Benefield in 1 225,88 and has
followed the descent of the manor
(q.v.) since that date. In 1329 William of Benetfeld
obtained licence to alienate land in this parish to a
chaplain to celebrate divine service daily in the
church of Benefield for the King and the souls of
himself, his ancestors and benefactor s,** and in 1515
William Newman bequeathed 40^. to the same church
' to by a coope.'*'^ Its rectory was the occasion for
several suits in the l6th centur>' in which the lord of
the manor was involved. Between 1525 and 1529
the parson, Richard Robinson, appealed to the Star
Chamber against George Zouche the patron ' and also
a man of great strength and powre ' for keeping him
out of his benefice by force and threats.*^"" More
than thirty years later George's son and heir, Sir
John Zouche, was sued in Chancery by Thomas
Washington, clerk, for withholding the deed of presen-
tation by which he had granted him the living and
instituting another rector.'^' The plaintiffs of 1591
were laymen — Francis Flower who sued the last
Zouche lord of Benefield and his uncle, William
Zouche, for non-fulfilment of an undertaking to sell
him a lease of the rectory of Benefield, and William
Tate, who complained of the detention by the same
defendants of the indentures and bonds by which
they had sold him the same rectory.''''
Church Estate. In 1683 theCom-
CHARniES missioners of Charitable Uses decreed
that the rent of certain tenements and
lands, which had been given by the family of Benning-
ton, should be applied to and for the repair of the
Parish Church. Under the Inclosure Act passed in
I George IV, an allotment of 1 3 a. o r. 4 p. was set out
and awarded to the Churchwardens in lieu of the
original property. The land produces (io yearly
and the Charity is also possessed of ;^ioo 5 per cent.
War Stock standing in private names and representing
accumulations of income.
Poor's Land. The same Commissioners in 1683
found that certain sums of money given by persons
named Bennington and Wright for the poor had been
laid out in the purchase of a close of land containing
4 acres. The property consists of a field at King's
CliflFe containing 5 a. and let for ^4 5/. yearly.
The Poor's Money. The Commissioners previously
mentioned found that other persons gave altogether
£io for the poor. This money was originally secured
on a mortgage, but has since been invested in
£?i1 l()i. Sd. Canada 3J per cent. Stock with the
Official Trustees of Charitable Funds and pro-
ducing £■} I/, id. yearly in dividends. The
income of the Poor's Land and the Poor's Money
is distributed in doles on St. Thomas's Day to about
18 poor.
By his will dated 1783 the Rev. Francis Broade
gave ;^ioo to the Rector and Churchwardens the
income to be distributed to the Poor on Good Friday.
The money is now represented by ^103 15/. 3;^.
Canada 3J per cent. Stock with the Official Trustees
of Charitable Funds and producing ^3 12s. Sd. yearly
in dividends which is distributed among about 18
poor.
HEMINGTON
Hinintone, Hemintone (xi cent.) ; Hennington,
Hemingtone, Heminthon, Hevinton (xii cent.).
The parish of Hemington covers an area of 1,354
acres and stands at an average height of 200 ft. above
the ordnance datum. The subsoil is Oxford clay
with cornbrash in the east. The upper soil varies.
About a third of the land is laid down as grass and
the remainder, except for about 15 acres of woodland,
is arable land producing barley and wheat.
A road leading from Great Gidding to Polebrook
goes through the village past Hemington Lodge, and
the vicarage, church and school. North of the school
a branch road goes eastwards past the remains of the
old Manor House, which survived as two tenements
in 1888. This, the second Northamptonshire home
of the Montagus, was surrounded by a moat, inclosing
8 acres. The last member of the family who lived
here was Elizabeth Harington, widow of the second
Sir Edward Montagu, known as ' The Blind Lady
Montagu.'* Dean Swift, writing to the Duke of
Montagu in 171 3, nearly a hundred years after this
lady's death, said, ' I was at Hcmmington according
to your order, and found no mansion house there, and
was informed it had been pulled down about 30 years
before.'^ The population of Hemington numbered
106 persons in 1921.
Part of HEMINGTON was given with
MANORS Barnwell St. Andrew (q.z:) to Ramsey
Abbey by Ethelric Bishop of Dorchester.
The gift consisted of 3 hides and 2 virgates of land.^
The area by 1086 and in the 12th century had
fallen to 2j hides.* The tenants in fee holding of
the Abbot as at Barnwell St. Andrew (q.v.) were the
le Moynes^ until Abbot William de Godmanchester
purchased the manor with Barnwell in 1276.' In 1293
Abbot Sawtry appropriated Hemington to the uses
of the Abbey ceilar.' After the Dissolution the Crown
in 1540 granted the manor to Sir Edward Montagu,
Chief Justice of the King's Bench.' From 1540 the
manor descended with Barnwell St. Andrew (q.v.),
but the Duke of Buccleuch did not sell it with that
manor in 191 3, and is still owner.*
Another fee in Hemington, also 2^ hides, the soke
of which lay in Oundlc, was held of the abbot of
" Dedicated to St. Mary, P.C.C. lo
Holder.
•• Rot. //u?. Je Ifellei (Cant, and York
Soc.) ii, 123.
•• Cal. Pal. 1 327- JO, p. 364.
•»' P.C.C. 10 Holder.
»••' Star Cham. Proc. Hen. VIII, bdlc.
17, not. Z51 and 257.
"" Ch.in.Proc. (Ser. 2), bdlc. 190, no. 76.
"■"1 Ibid. Elir,. F. I 7., no. 29 ; T.t. 8.
' C. Wiic, The Monlagui oj Boiighwti,
12, 28.
• Duke 0/ Buccleuch MSS. (Hi«t. MSS.
Com. Rep.) i. 359.
• Cariul. Man. dt Rames (Rolli Ser.),
i, 280.
80
« r.C.H. Norihanis. i, 318*, 367a.
• Ibid.
• Cariul. Men. dt Rames (Rolli Ser.)
lii, 18;.
' Ibid, ii, l..\o.
' I'.it. R. 31 Men. VIII, pt. 6, m. 31.
" Inf. from Messrs. Nichull, Maniity
and Co.
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
REMINGTON
Peterborough by three knights in the nth and 12th
centuries.^' The ovcrlordship of the abbey over these
lands continued to the Dissolution."
In the reign of Henry I, one of the three knights
had been succeeded by Richard Fitz Gilbert,'^ who
has been identified with the son of Gislebert Favel,
a tenant of the abbey in 1086.''' Riciiard's holding
comprising a hide and i\ virgatc formed the nucleus
of the manor of Hemington parcel of the manor of
Southorpe which was held of the abbey.** Between
1 173 and 1 176 Ivo, son of Geoffrey de Gunthorpe and
Richard his brother, probably the sons of Geoffrey de
Southorpe," and John de Remington, confirmed the
church of Remington to the Priory of St. Neots.^'
The same John contributed towards an aid at the
end of the 12th century." Re was succeeded by
Richard de Remington, said to be his son, whose
wife was Amice.'* Their son John in 1232 acknowledged
the right of the daughters of Robert de Remington
to lands in Remington.'* Re was succeeded by his
son Richard (living 1277),*" who in 1254 obtained
licence from the bishop of Lincoln to have a chapel
and chantry without burial, font or belfry, except
one bell for the elevation of the Rest, at his manor.'''
He confirmed the advowson of the church of Heming-
ton to St. Neots Priory in 1269.^- Possibly the relict
of his son or grandson, Richard de Remington, Joan,
then wife of a Colville, settled lands in Remington,
which she had of Gilbert son of Simon, and Joan,
daughter of Simon de Remington, on her children,
Roger (who had a son John), Richard (who had a
son Richard, who married Divorgela), and Elizabeth.^^
John, son of Richard de Remington, did homage to
the Abbot of Peterborough in 1290, when he was
aged seven years.^* This John had two sons, Richard
andJohn(whohada sonThomas,mentionedin 1367).^*
Richard and his wife Joan were living in 1329 and
'345-** Probably Joan held the manor in dower, a?
we find that in 1350 Roger Ryrst held for the term
of the life of his wife of the inheritance of Richard
de Remington, a third part of a fee in Remington."
Richard and Joan had two sons, Richard Remington
(living in 1361, 1374), who married Margerie, and
John (living in 1361), whose wife was Joan. Richard
and Margerie seem to have had a son John, who with
his wife Joan was living in 1401.^* It seems probable
that they had a son Richard, as Katherinc, daughter
and heir of Richard Hemington, settled the manor
in 1424** on her marriage with John Kirkby,'''who was
holding three parts of a knight's fee in Remington
formerly of RogerRyrst of the abbot of Peterborough."
15cfore 1455 the manor had fallen to the coheirs of
Kathcrine lady of Hemington. In that year William
Inglcfield and his wife Agnes with William Elyngton
and his wife Joan conveyed a third of the manor to
llcnrv Ehen, chaplain, and others.'" A settlement of
another third was made in 1456 by Richard Blogwyn,
son and heir of Margaret Blogwyn, one of the coheirs
of Katherine, and his wife Alice.^ A moiety of tlie
remaining third belonged ten years later to Henry
Wytlessy.** The manor of Hemington became settled
upon William Est the elder, with remainders to his
sons William and Robert in tail male. Alice, widow
of the elder William, had a life interest, and she and
her second husband, John Dann, held the manor.
William the younger married Anne Montgomery,
upon whom a settlement was made, and they had an
only child Anne. His widow Anne married Thomas
Dykons and in 1489 Alice and Anne and their husbands
brought an action against Robert Est, described as of
London, draper, who as heir male under the settlement
had sold his interest to Thomas Montagu. The dis-
pute was compromised and all parties, together with
John Hcryng and Anne his wife, apparently the
daughter of William Est the younger, quitclaimed their
interests to Thomas Montagu.^ Tliomas died in
1517, having settled Remington in tail male on his
eldest son Edward with remainder to a younger son
John.^ From this date the manor has followed the
descent of the chief manor.
The second of the three Peterborough knights in
Remington in the reign of Henry I was Guy Maufe,
whose share in the fee was half a hide and half a
virgate." Re was the heir and probably the son of
Roger ' Malfed,' the abbot's Domesday tenant at
Woodford,'* whom he had succeeded in 1 1 14. Re
and his wife Adeliza granted tithes to Peterborough
in 1141.** Re was succeeded by Simon, possibly his
son, who with Alexander Maufe had some right to the
advowson about 1176.^" The Maufe fee followed the
descent of Woodford (i-v.) and about 1254 was divided
among the four daughters of Robert Maufe. The
small holding in Hemington seems to have been
acquired by Thorney Abbey, Peterborough Abbey and
Richard de Hemington, and in the 1 6th century came
to Thomas and Edward Montagu.^"*
The abbot of Thorney's possessions in Kingsthorp
and Hemington were described as half a knight's fee
of the fee of Maufe in 1315'" and later in the 14th
century.''^
•• F.C.H. Norihants. i, 315-16, 367J.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, 1. 159*; Chron.
Pttroi. H7 ; Feud. Aiii. iv, 28, 48 ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. (jcr. 2), xxxii, 37.
'« y.C.H. NoTtbanit. i, 367a.
'» Round, Feud. Engl. 167, 223.
'* Fine R. 88, m. : ; Chan. Inq. p.m.
Edw. I, fife 103, no. 2; Close R. 118,
m. yi.
" r.C.//. Northanu. ii, 466, 514. It
•eemi likely that Thomas, son of Robert
of Gunthorpe, who held eight hides in
Gunthorpe, Southorpe, Stokes and Hem-
ington (Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script. 54),
it the Thomas, son of Robert, son of
Geoffrey Southorpe of 1243; cf. Stoke
Doyle.
'• Cott. MS. Faust. A 4, fol. 41;
Gorham, Hist, oj Eyntsbury and St.
Neott, ii, p. cxrvi.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, fol. 159A.
" Bridges, Hist. Northants. ii, 401 ;
Buccleuch Deeds, A. 30.
" Feet of F. Northants. case 172,
file 25, no. 279.
" Buccleuch Deeds, C. 10(d).
■' Ibid. B, 14, 18.
" Feet of F. Northants. case 174,
file 49, no. 889.
" Buccleuch Deeds, A. 32, 67, 72.
" Cbron. Pelrob. 147.
" Buccleuch Deeds, A. 73, 87.
" Ibid. A. 69.
" Pytchley, Bk. of Fees (Northants
Rec. Soc), 71 K.
"Buccleuch Deeds, A. 851, G. 25,
K. 6, B. 20.
" Bridges, Hist. Northants. ii, 399-
401.
81
" Buccleuch Deeds, A. 11 ; Feet of F.
Northants. case 179, file 93, no. 49.
" Feud. Aids, iv, 48.
" Feet of F. Northants. case 179,
file 95, no. 134.
" Ibid.no. 138,
•* Ibid, file 96, no. 12.
" Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 90, no. 54 ;
Feet of F. Northants, case 179, file 97,
not. II, 13, 16.
'•Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), xxxii, 37;
Coll. Top. et Gen. v (c. viii,), 89.
•' y.C.H. Northants. i, 367a.
" Round, Feud. i'"g/. 158, 223.
"• Pytchley op. cit., 60 «.
*" Gorham, loc. cit.
*»• Pytchley, loc. cit. ; Cott. MS.
Cleo. C ii, fol. 143A.
•' Cott. MS. Vetp. E xxi, fol. 30A.
««Ibid. Cleop. C ii, fol. 143*.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
A share in the Peterborough fee equal to that of
Guy Maufe belonged to Reginald le Moyne in the
reign of Henry I.** This seems to be the so-called
manor said to have been conveyed by Berengar le
Moyne in the 13th century to Sir Richard de Reming-
ton,''* but in 1 31 5 a later Reginald le Moyne still held
the sixth of a knight's fee in Hemington and Little-
thorp of the abbot of Peterborough.'*^
Two landowners in Hemington whose names appear
in the return of 1316 are John Sandon and John Car-
doun.*® John Cardoun was at the same date one of
the lords of Thurning with Winwick, then in the
county of Huntingdon,'*' and either he or his heir of
the same name in 1330 defended his right to take toll
of carts passing through Winwick to avoid the difficult
transit by the highway through Thurning and
Hemington.'** John Sandon may possibly be the
Essex landowner of that name in 1303.'**
In 1 291 there was a mill on the Ramsey Abbey land
in Hemington.*"
The church of ST. PETER AND ST.
CHURCH PAUL stands on the south side of the
village and consists of chancel 24 ft. 6 in.
by 16 ft. 2 in., nave 38 ft. 6 in. by 19 ft. 4 in., south
porch, and west tower 8 ft. 8 in. by 9 ft. 6 in., all these
measurements being internal. With the exception
of the tower, which is of late 15th century date, very
little ancient work survives, the old chancel and nave
having been pulled down in 1666 and a new building
erected by Lord Montagu consisting of a rectangular
body measuring 38 ft. by 19 ft.,** with square-headed
windows taken from the ruins of the old manor-house.**
The church remained in that condition until 1872,
when the nave was restored and a chancel and south
porch added.*' The new work is in the style of the
14th century, but the chancel arch is said to be a
reproduction of an arch which had formerly existed
and of which a few stones had been built into the
walls.** These stones are of early 13th century date,
and include the two respond capitals, which have nail-
head ornament, and part of a moulded base. The
arch itself, which is almost wholly modern, is of two
chamfered orders. New windows in the 14th century
style were inserted in the nave in place of the old
square-headed windows, but the 17th century round-
headed south doorway remains. The chancel is faced
with ashlar and has a slated eaved roof. The nave
retains its 17th century open-timber roof of four bays,
with turned pendants to the tie beams. It is covered
with grey Colleyweston slates.
The tower is of grey rubble masonry in four stages,
with embattled parapet and diagonal buttresses.
Above the west doorway is a square panel with the
arms of Montagu, and the west window is of three
cinquefoiled lights, with four-centered head and
hoodmould. The mullions and tracery are new.
The bell-chamber windows are also four-centered and
of two plain pointed lights. The lofty tower-arch
is Ot two chamfered orders dying into the wall.
There is no vice.
The font is of late 12th or early 13th century date,
and consists of an octagonal bowl and circular moulded
stem, in which the nail-head ornament occurs. The
shorter sides of the bowl have carved heads in their
upper part.
In the chancel are ten oak stalls, five on each side,
of late 15th century date, said to have come from
Fotheringhay church.** All retain their carved
misericords the subjects of which are as follows :—
North side : (l) dragon, (2) crown, (3) hawk in fetter-
lock, (4) publican with jug, (5) mermaid ; South side:
(6) owl, (7) tailed beast in monk's hood, (8) tumbler,
(9) two boars saltire-wise, (10) helm and mantling.
The four end counters have traceried designs, and
carvings of a rose, boar, crown, and hawk in fetterlock.
The knops are also carved.
At the east end of the nave is a floor slab with brass
figures of Thomas Montagu and his wife Agnes
(Dudley), and a shield in each of the four corners.
The male figure is bareheaded, with long flowing hair
and wears a large cloak and gown edged with fur ; the
ladv is habited in a tight-fitting gown and wears a
pedimental headdress. The inscription records that
Montagu died 5 September, 1517.**
A glass panel with the arms of Montagu is in one of
the south windows of the nave.*'
Some portions of carved screen work and tracery,
found in 1 872, have been worked into the new oak
pulpit.
There are four bells in the tower, the treble by
J. Taylor & Co., of Loughborough, 1872, the second
by Thomas Eayre of Kettering, 1724, the third a
recasting by Taylor in 1908 of a bell dated 1598,
inscribed ' Cum voco ad ecclesiam venite,'*' and the
tenor undated, but inscribed ' Obe the Prince.'
There is a pit for a fifth bell.
The plate consists of a cup and cover paten of
about 1683, and a paten and flagon of 1699 presented
by Robert Wells and .'Mice his wife,' who designe to be
Buried in this church by their only son Robert, who
died y" 12"" of Nov'' 1685.'*' There is also a brass
alms dish.
The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i) bap-
tisms 1574-82, 1596-1783, marriages 1596-1753,
burials 1562-90, 1597-1783 ; (ii) baptisms and burials
1784-1812 ; (iii) marriages 1755-1812.
The advowson of the church, dedi-
ADVOIVSON cated to St. Peter, at least as early
as 1254,'" but since 1786 to St. Peter
and St. Paul," was given, with a virgate of land in the
*'y.C.H. tiortbanti. i, 367a.
" Bridgei, op. cit. ii, 399, quoting from
(he Duke of Mcntjgu'j cvidcncei.
"Cott. MS. Veip. E xii, fol. 30A.
•• Feud. Aidi, iv, 28.
•' Ibid, ii, 472.
«' Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 526.
"Feud. Aidi, ii, 148.
w Pope Nich. Tax (Rec. Com.), 55*.
" Theic are the dimeniioni given by
Bridget, ii, 40t. He deicribei the building
ai of frecitone, covered with ilate. and
joined at the weit end to the old itteple.
Thomai Montagu in i;i4 directed thai
hii bodj ihould be buried in the chapel
of Holy Trinity, and left money for the
repair of the steeple (Wills, Probate OfT.
Northampton, A, 329.)
"Whellan, Dtreclory oj Nortbanis
(1874), 710. The building i> said to have
had an ' entirely domestic appearance.'
"The coit was borne by the Duke of
Bucclcuch.
"Whellan, op. cit., 710.
"H. K. Bonney, //»/. Notes on Folher-
ingbay {t9it). The stalls are said to have
been left by will to Hemington church
by a farmer of Fotheringhay in the iSth
cent. Inf. from Rev. F. II. La Trobe.
'• I'ranklin lludmn.Jiraiieiof Norlbanli.
82
" Bridges (op. cit. ii, 401) says that the
arms of Mont.igu were in the east window.
'» The old third hell also bore the
initials E. M. (probably for Sir Edward
Montagu, lord of the manor ; died
Jan. 1601-2); the inscription has been
retained. See North, Cb. Bells oj Nortb-
anis. 303.
'• The inscription is on the paten
only : Markham, Cb. Plate of Northants.
'55-
•" Bucclcuch Deeds, B 14, 18 ; Rol.
Ric. Gravesend (Cant, and York Soc),
119.
" Bacon, Ltber Regit, 829.
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
LUDDINGTON
parish, to the monks of St. Neot's by Thurstan, the
priest of Hemington, in 1 149, on the condition that
after his death Roger, his son, should hold it for life.'-
Between 1173 and 1 1 82 the prior and monks were
inducted into the church by order of Geoffrey, Bishop
elect of Lincoln, Roger,then priest, retaining possession
in the name of the monks and paying them 2;. a
year." Although Thurstan's grant had thus obtained
episcopal sanction and was ratified by the several
tenants of the abbot of Peterborough in the parish,
[see above] the Priory was not undisturbed by rival
claimants. The Ramsey Cartulary preserves a bull
of Pope .\lexander III which confirms Hemington
with its church to the Abbey,** and at a later date the
abbot of Peterborough laid claim to the advowson.**
The dispute between the Priory and Abbey was
finally settled in 1 219 when the prior surrendered
his right to the church of Clapton on condition that
the abbot gave up the advowson of Hemington to
him and paid him the ancient and due pension which
he was wont to receive from Clapton.** It was
amongst the possessions of St. Neot's Priory at its
surrender" and was included in the grant of Lud-
dington (y.t.) to Sir Edward Montagu in 1544. From
that date the rectory and advowson followed the
descent of the manor** until 1920, when the Duke of
Buccleuch conveyed them to Mr. Benjamin Measures.
A vicarage was ordained during the episcopacy of
Hugh de Welles (1206-35).**
The rectory belonged to the Priory of St. Neot's
until 1539'" and in 1544 was granted to Sir Edward
Montagu with the advowson (q.v.) with which it has
since descended.
In the 14th century the Priory of St. James, or
Hinchinbrooke Priory, near Huntingdon, owned
certain tithes in Hemington which were leased to Sir
Edward Montagu for £1 4J. a year at its surrender."
An annuity of 13.1. 4d. is payable out
CHARITY of the Estates of Lord Montagu for
distribution to the poor. Tlie origin
of the charity is unknown, but it said to have been a
bequest of the blind Lady Montagu.
LUDDINGTON
LuUintone, LuUinthone (xi to xiii cent.) ; Lyling-
ton, f.oUington, LuUyngton (xiv cent.) ; Lodyngton
in the Brooke (xv cent.) ; Leddyngton, ah. Luddyng-
ton, als. LuUyngton (xvi cent.) ; Ludington ab.
Lullington (xviii cent.).
The parish of Luddington, or Luddington-in-the-
Brook, lies on the borders of Huntingdonshire and a
small part of it falls within the Hundred of Leighton-
stone in that county. It covers 1,104 ^cres on a
subsoil of Oxford clay, with a border of cornbrash
in the east. Of this area rather more than a third is
pasture, about eight acres are woodland, and the
rest is arable, producing chiefly wheat and barley.
The average height above the ordnance datum is
200 ft.
A long and rather narrow tract of land in the east
of the parish ftretches south of Lutton and east of
Hemington along the county boundary in Gipsy
Lane to the Rectory Farm. Farther south on the
east the road from Great Gidding enters the parish
and runs through the village in a north-westerly
direction into Hemington, passing the church of St.
Margaret and the Church Farm. A very winding
itream called Alconbury Brook rises in the Great
Hall Spinney north of the church and flows in a
south-easterly direction through a tract of land liable
to floods. In the early part of the i8th century the
county historian described the situation of the village
as ' low and dirty ' from the overflowing of this
rivulet, and attributed its title of Luddington-in-the-
Brook to this cause.*
In 1921 the population of Luddington consisted
of 65 persons.
A hide and a half in LUDDINGTON
MANOR which was parcel of Oundle were held
of Peterborough Abbey by Walter in
1086.2 'YYie lordship of the Abbey over this fee con-
tinued without interruptionuntil its«urrender in 1539.*
The names of Walter's successors in the 12th
century and early 13th have not been preserved.
A mesne lordship over the fee was held by Richard
Poure, possibly the Shropshire and Stafford landowner
of that date, in 1243.* It came afterwards to the
Marmion lords of Lutton manor, of which the manor
of Luddington was a member, until John Marmion,
who did homage to the abbot of Peterborough in
1300,' released all his rights in Luddington to the
Abbey.*
In 1243 William de Lullington was subtenant
to Richard Poure, holding half a knight's fee of the
old enfeoffment, of him.' He presented to the church
four years later,' but in or before 1275 had been
succeeded as patron by Gregory de Lullington.'
Within the next thirty years the manor had passed
into the possession of John, son of Thomas de Oundle,
probably Gregory's grandson,*" who held it of John
Marmion by homage and fealty and service of half a
knight's fee.**
•• Gorham, op. cit. ii, pp. xxxix, xl,
•cxx»i.
•• Cott. MS. Faus:. A. iv, ff. 40A, 41 ;
Dugdale, Mtm. Angl. iii, 474.
** Cartul. Mon. de Rames. (Rolls Ser.),
ii, 137.
•» Cott. MS. Cleo. C. ii, fol. io6b ;
Gorham, loc. cit.
•• Fe«t of F. Nortbants. case 172,
file 16, no. 58.
•' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 262.
•' Inst. Bk«. (P.R.O.).
•» Rot. Hug. de WeUes (Cant, and York
Soc), i, 208.
'» ValoT Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 262.
"Add. Chart. 34326, 39589; Dug-
dale, Mon. Angl. iv, 388-89.
' Bridges, Hist, of Northants. ii, 402-4.
■ V.C.H. Northants. i, 316a.
• Egerton MS. 2733, ff. 134, 1344;
Cott. MS. Vcsp. E. xxi, fol. \id; Chan.
Inq. a.q.d. file 49, no. 4 ; Feud. Aids, iv,
23; Pat. R. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. 6,
m. I.
• Pytchley, Bk. of Fees (Northants
Rec. Soc), ii, 968, 69 ; Egerton MS.
2733, fol. 134A.
• Cott. MS. Veip. E. xxi, fol. I2d.
• V.C.H. Northants. ii, 584-85.
' Egerton MS. 2733 fol. 134b.
' Rot. Rob. Grosseteste (Cant, and York
Soc), 226.
' Rot. Ric. Gravesend (Cant, and York
Soc), 127. A John de Lullington and
Benigna, his daughter, appear about
1260-70. Buccleuch Deeds, A 37, G 8,
H 28.
'° Walter de Whyttlcseye (Sparke,
Hist. Angl. Script, pp. 157-8) describes
him as Gregory's son.
"Chan. Inq. a.q.d. file 49, no. 4;
Cott. Chart, xv, 18.
83
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
In 1304 he granted it to the abbot of Peter-
borough, its chief lord, John Marmion, the mesne
lord giving his consent.'^
Abbot Godfrey de Crowland assigned the manor
to the convent for his anniversary .^^ He was returned
as lord of Luddington in 1316,^* and it remained
among the temporahties of his house until the sur-
render of the Abbey in 1539.** In 1544 it was
granted to Sir Edward Montagu," and followed the
descent of Barnwell St. Andrew (q.v.), but was not
sold by the Duke of Buccleuch in 191 3, and the duke
is still owner of the manor. Mr. James Cheney is
one of the chief landowners in the parish.
Land in Luddington formed part of a knight's
fee in Great Gidding and Luddington, given by
Ingeram de Owe (Auco) to the Austin Canons of
Huntingdon^' and confirmed to them by Henry I.'^*
The lands and rents of the Priory in Fotheringhay
and Luddington together were valued at £^ gs. id.
in 1291 ^' and in 1539 its rents in Luddington alone
amounted to 102s. lld.^" The possessions of this
house in Luddington remained with the Crown until
1546, when they were sold with the manor of Great
Gidding to Edward Watson of Rockingham and
Henry Herdson, skinner, of London,^^ who in the
same year obtained licence to convey them to Sir
Edward Montagu.^-
The church of ST. M.-IRGARET: con-
CHURCH sists of chancel, 22 ft. 3 in. by 14 ft. 2 in. ;
clearstoried nave, 39 ft. by 15 ft. ;
south aisle, 9 ft. 6 in. wide ; south porch and west
tower, 6 ft. 2 in. by 6 ft. 8 in., all these measurements
being internal. The tower is surmounted by a short
broach spire. The building is almost entirely of
15th century date, but it appears to have taken the
place of a 13th century church, which seems to have
had both north and south aisles. The building was
very completely restored in 1874, the chancel being
in a great measure modern work, but four lancet
windows, three on the north and one on the south,
which had survived the 15th-century rebuilding, were
retained in modern form. The buttresses and part
of the walling at the west end of the nave may belong
to the 13th-century church, the north buttress
indicating the line of the former north arcade.
The building is of rubble masonry, with plain
parapets, large grotesque gargoyles,^^ and leaded
roofs to nave and aisle. The chancel is covered with
grey slates. All the roofs are modern. The spire
dates only from 1874, but is said to be a copy of a
spire long ago destroyed ; before the restoration only
its base remained, covered with a slated pyramidal roof.
The chancel retains no ancient features except
its 15th-century arch with moulded capitals and bases.
The rood loft doorway remains on the north side,
approached by a stairway, still perfect, in the north
nave wall, here thickened out. The nave arcade
consists of three pointed arches of two chamfered
orders, the outer running down the piers to the
ground, the inner resting on attached shafts with
moulded capitals and bases. All the windows of the
nave are four-centered, those of the clearstory of
two cinquefoiled lights, the others of three lights,
and at the east end of the aisle, in the usual position,
is a piscina with four-centered head and quatrefoil
bowl.
The tower is divided by string courses into five
short stages, and has clasping buttresses and bell-
chamber windows of two cinquefoiled lights with
quatrefoil in the head. The tower arch is lofty and
of a single chamfered order. There is no vice.
The font is of 1 5 th century date, with plain octagonal
bowl and stem.
The oak pulpit and the seating are modern, but
some old linen pattern panels have been used up and
have been copied in the bench ends. There is a good
carved oak chest, probably of 16th-century date.
The only ancient glass consists of some fragments
of late 15th-century canopy work in the east window
of the aisle and in one in the north wall.^
The two bells in the tower were cast by Henry
Penn, of Peterborough, in 1710.^* The frames were
renewed in 1861.
The plate consists of a silver gilt cup and cover
paten of 1640, both bearing the initials of Richard
Faulkner, and the date 1641.^* There are also a
pewter alms plate and a brass alms dish.
The registers before l8l2 are as follows : (i)
baptisms 1673-86, 1702-31, 1733-58, marriages
1673-1702, 1711-43, burials 1635-92, 1711-57;
(ii) baptisms and burials 1759-1812 ; (iii) marriages
1754-1812.
The church, which until the latter
ADFOWSON part of the i8th century was dedi-
cated to St. Andrew,^^ has been
known as the church of St. Margaret of Antioch since
1791.^* It was included in the grant of the manor
{q.v.) by John, son of Thomas de Oundle, to the
Abbey of Peterborough, and remained one of the
possessions of that house until its surrender.^' Sir
Edward Montagu bought it with the manor in 1 544.
The rectory, which was united to the vicarage of
Hemington before 1854, has, with the advowson,
followed the descent of the manor. In 1920 it
was conveyed by the Duke of Buccleuch with Heming-
ton to Mr. Benjamin Measures.
An annuity of 13/. \d. is payable out
CHARITY of the estates of Lord Montagu for
distribution to the poor. The origin
of the charily is unknown.
"Chan. Inq. a.q.d. file 49, no. 4;
Cott. Chart, xv, iS. Cal. Pat. 1301-7,
p. 241 i Cott. MS. Vcip. E. xxi, ff. 16A,
17; Ibid. CIco. C. ii, fol. 81.
" Sparkc, loc. cit.
"Feud, /lids, iv, 23.
■• A'a/or Eccl. (Rcc. Com.), iv, 279.
" Pat. R. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. 6, m. i.
" Chart. R. Ii4,m. 31.
"Cart. Anliq. II. no. 8.
" Pi<l>e Nicb. Tax (Rcc. Com.), 556.
" faUr E<cl. (Rcc. Com.), iv, 253.
" Pat. R. 38 Ilcn. VIII, pt. 4, m. 40.
" Ibid. pt. 6.
*■ The g.irgoylc8 .ire a very conspicuous
feature of the building ; there arc four on
each side of the clearstory, four to the
aisle, and four to the porch, all very large
in comparison with the other architectural
details.
** Bridges records the fragment of an
inscription : ' Joht ct Agnet uxoris ejus
. . . fenestra ..." in the uppermost
north windoWi and another window,
' from the letters S and S in many places
of it appears to have had the portraits of
different saints.' He also records the
arms of Montagu in the cast window :
}hil. of Northants. ii, 403.
*'•* I'or inscriptions sec North, Cb. Bells
0/ Norlhanis, 330.
" Markham, Ch. I'hilt oJNorihants, 181.
"Norihjnts .V. and Q. 1888, ii, 115;
Bacon, Liber Regis, 328.
" Bridges, op. cit., ii, 402-4.
'•' I'alor Eccl. (Rcc. Com), iv, 293.
84
/ f^
^i«te'
I
> d ■u^r.iZJCl
LuDniNGTON Church from the South
LuDDlNCTON Church : The Interior, looking East
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
OUNDLE
Undala, Undela (x cent.) ; Oundel (xiv cent.).
The parish of Oundle is situated on the Nene,
which almost surrounds the level ground called St.
Sythc's meadow. This ancient market town is
situated on the higher ground to the north-west, on
the neck of this little peninsula. The hamlets of
Ashton and Elmington lie to the north-east, across the
river; Biggin and Churchfield to the west. The land
near the river is liable to floods, but the main part
of the town stands from 25 ft. to 35 ft. above the
level of the river, and the ground rises on the east and
west boundaries to about 250 ft.
The area of the parish is 4,992 acres, of which
3,144 acres are in Oundle and 1,848 in Ashton. In
1895 Biggin and Churchfield, with the rural portion
of the township, were added to Benefield,* the area of
Oundle being thus reduced to 2,228 acres. The land
is mainly permanent pasture. A private Act, un-
printed,- was passed in 1807 for the inclosure and the
tithes of Oundle ; under it the vicarage was augmented
by 66 acres.'
There are several mineral springs in the neighbour-
hood,* and a century ago the making of bobbin lace
was a local industr)'.
A road from Thrapston on the south crosses the
river Nene by the South or Crowthorp Bridge, which
has six round keystoned arches and a plain sloped
coping, but is of no architectural interest. There
were formerly two crosses on the old bridge 12 ft.
apart, the bridge extending ' 20 ft. from one cross to
the north and 40 ft. from the other to the south. '^
The road continues north and again crosses the Nene
by the North Bridge on its way to Elton and Peter-
borough. The North Bridge was rebuilt and widened
in 1912-14. It consists of eleven arches, six over the
river proper and five more widely spaced in the approach
from the town. A tablet recording a former rebuild-
ing, found during the course of repair in 1835, has
been inserted in the parapet ; the inscription reads :
' In the yere of oure Lord 1570 thes arches wer
borne doune by the waters extremytie. In the yere
of oure Lord 1 57 1 they wer bulded agayn with lyme
and stonne. Thanks be to God.' On the east side
of the bridge is the railway station (opened 1845) on a
branch of the London Midland and Scottish Railway.
Near by on the river is a wharf or dock. Other roads
from Stoke Doyle, Benefield, Glapthorn and Fothering-
hay converge on the town. At the junction of the
roads from Benefield and Stoke Doyle, the district was
formerly called Chapel End, from the medieval
chapel of St. Thomas of Canterbury. Leiand, refer-
ring to this chapel about 1540, describes it as ' the
church or chapel of St. Thomas now of our Lady.'
The site of the chapel is at present approximately
occupied by Jesus Church.
The town has many picturesque stone-built houses,
La xto n. Argent a
chei'eroti gobotiy ermine
and sable between three
griffons* heads gules
sprinkled Kith drops of
gold.
chiefly of 17th and 1 8th century date, and some
retaining earlier work, but the growing needs of
Oundle School have necessitated the removal of
several interesting blocks of buildings, notably in New
Street. The new buildings,
however, are everywhere de-
signed to harmonise with their
surroundings, and add not a
little to the pleasant aspect
of the town, being mostly
in a late Gothic style adapted
to modern needs. The gram-
mar school and almshouse on
the south side of the church-
yard, which was a recon-
struction by Sir William
Laxton of the then existing
guildhall,* was pulled down
in 1852 to make room for the
new Laxton School building,
and new almshouses were built on a near site. The
new school building has an open ground story, with
wide four-centered arches, square-headed mullioned
windows above, and a gable to the Market Place.
The bronze tablet formerly over the entrance of the
old school has been built into the end wall ; it bears
the escutcheon of Sir William Laxton between the
arms of the city of London and of the Grocers
Company and an inscription in Latin, Greek, and
Hebrew, the Latin version of which reads, ' Vndellae
natus Londini parta labore Laxtonus posuit senibus
puerisque levame.' New school buildings adjoining
were erected in 1885.
The Town Hall and Market House, which stands in
the middle of the Market Place, is a plain but not
unpleasing gabled building of two stories erected in
1 826, in which year the market cross, which stood to the
east of it, at the top of St. Osyth Lane, was destroyed.
The cross, which was dated 1591, consisted of a tall
shaft on two octagonal stone steps, and was surrounded
by a pent house of timber, also octagonal, with high-
pitched roof covered with stone slates.' Tlie war
memorial stands in the Marl-et Place.
At the corner of West Street (formerly the High
Street) and New Street is a house now turned into a
shop on the ground floor, with a panel in the gable
inscribed ' 1626 W.W.,' the initials being those of
William Whitwell, who built the block of property
on that site, which extended to, and apparently
included, the Talbot Hotel in New Street. Part of
this property was pulled down for the Post OSice,
erected in 1903, but the Talbot Hotel, originally the
Tabret,' remains unaltered, and is a picturesque gabled
building of three stories, with mullioned bay windows
and wide central archway. The staircase is a good
example of the period, with moulded rails, turned
' L.G.B. Order 33,586 ; a imall transfer
had been made in 1885, L.G.B. Order
'7.763-
•47 Geo. Ill, Sesi. i. Cap. 19. The
■ward was nude in 1811.
' W. Smalley Law Oundle's Story, 35.
*J. Morton, Nai. Hist, of Nortbantt
(171a), p. 273.
' .Markham, Crosses of Nortbants. 9Z.
•The guildhall was described in 1565
as' a very fair hall builded with freestone ' j
it measured yz ft. by 38 ft. ; \V. Smalley
Law, Oundle's Story, 35.
' Markham, Crosses of Sortbants. 93.
Every Thursday at mid-day a bell is rung
at the parish church to denote that the
85
market has opened. Up to about forty
years ago two bells used to be rung on
Sunday at 7 a.m. to indicate that it was
the Sabbath day.
•The name Talbot is from the ' talbot
passant,' the crest of Mr. WhitweU's
wife's family, the Griffins, which he
adopted ; W. Smalley Law, op. cit. 90.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
balusters and square newels with tall shaped finials.*
The Wliite Lion Hotel in North Street, another
gabled three-story house with mullioned windows,
has a panel with the initials ' E.H., I.H.,' but another
inscribed ' A.H., B.H. mdcxli ' appears to be
modern, though probably marking the position of
Oundle: The White Lion Hotel
one of that date. The Anchor Inn, a low two-
story building, at the corner of St. Osyth Lane and
East Road, with a panel inscribed ' 1637 IM.,' forms
the end of a row of small houses in St. Osyth Lane,
which were apparently built at the same time.**
A gabled house on the north side of West Street,
near Chapel End, is dated ' W.H. 1650,' and in the
same street are two stone gabled 17th-century houses
forming a single property known since 1801 as Paine's
Almshouses,^ built on either side of a small court-
yard and connected by a high wall with moulded
coping, in which is a small but charming gateway
with four-centered arch in a square frame, circular
pediment, and tall obelisk finials.'^
Latham's Hospital and School*' in North Street,
built in l6ll, though much restored and wholly
modernised internally, preserves generally its original
appearance, and is of two stories with mullioned
windows, and three gabled wings towards the street
Latham. Or a chief
indented azure {barged
zvith three roundels ar-
inclosing two small courtyards entered by stone gate-
ways. There was a restoration in 1837 and a more
extensive one in 191 2, when railings took the place of
the high stone wall to one of the courtyards. The
inscriptions over the gateways were obliterated in
Bridges' time, but over the
school door was ' a rude pic-
ture of a schoolmaster in a
chair, with a cap on his head
and his scholars around him,
but much defaced.'** The
' hall ' of the hospital, for-
merly on the ground floor, is
now in the upper story : it
contains some good 17th-cen-
tury furniture and the prayer
which Nicholas Latham' pen-
ned by himself ' painted on 1
board above the fireplace.*^
The house known as The Berrystead,** now the
property of Oundle School, is a large building of
two stories with lofty basement and dormered attics,
originally of 17th century date, but apparently rebuilt
from the ground floor in the century following. The
basement has mullioned windows, and a stone dated
1670 has been reused in a later wing, but the main
elevations have tall sash windows, central doorway
with pedimented head, dressed quoins, and bold
cornice. The house is under parallel roofs with two
gables at each end. The garden extends down to
East Road, where there is a small square 17th century
pavilion, or garden-house, with pyramidal stone
slated roof. The vvrought-iron gates adjoining the
lower ro?d have been erected at the entrance to East
Haddon Hall. Another house, known as Cobthorne,*'in
West Street, is of the same type, with mullioned
windows in the basement, central doorway, and barred
sash windows on the ground floor, and a range of
five similar windows above. It was built by William
Butler, commander of the Parliamentary forces, who
used the timber from Lyveden House in its construc-
tion.'^ A 17th-century oak staircase with turned
balusters with ball tops runs from basement to attic,
and is a good specimen of the period, built round a
central well-hole.*'
Bramston House, at the corner of the Market Place
and St. Osyth Lane (formerly St. Sithe's Lane or
Lark Lane) is an early 18th-century building of three
stories, the front elevation of which is of ashlar with
tall flanking pilasters, plain central doorway, sash
windows, cornice and balustraded parapet. York's
House, on the south side of West Street, has a lead
head dated 1715, and attached to a large i8th century
house on the opposite side of the street is a garden-
house of the same period facing Milton Road, which
has round-headed sash windows and low domed
stone slated roof.
•The 'tradition' that the house wai
built with itonci from Fothcringhay
Cattle and that the staircase came from
there is unsupported by evidence, and
ai regards the staircase it obviously
without foundation.
'•They may be of 16th century date,
and the panel marks a rebuilding or
reitoration.
*' Or the ' Chapel Almshouses,' from
the bequest of John Paine in 1801. The
wing next to the Congregational Church
forms the minister's house and is known
as the Manse ; the other contains five free
tenements called the 'almshouse.'
*■ The gateway is said locally to have
come from Kirby Hall.
'•The school is no longer held here.
'* //ii(. o/jVor(Aa«/), ii, 410. The in-
scription over the almshouse was ' Quod
dcdi acccpi ' and over the school ' V.x
ore infantium pcrfecisti laudcm.'
'• The prayer is given in Smalley Law,
op. cit. 7J.
86
" In N'orth Street, opposite the cast
end of the church. The original Bury
Stead was to the north-west of the
church, between the rectory and the
vicarage.
*' From Cobthorne furlong in St.
Sithc'a field ; Sniallcy Law, op. cit. 30.
" \V. Smalley Law, Outflle's Story^ 8$.
*• It appears not to have been designed
for the house. There is a local ' tradition *
that it came from the Lyveden New
Building.
OUNDLE BEFORF 1852, SHOWING BUILDINGS NOW DESTROYED
(From II drazving by B. Riidge)
OuNDI.C : XtW SlREET IN iSj^), SHOWING HOUSES DEMOI.tSHED IN THAT YEAR
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
OUNDLE
Ashton chapel and schoolhouse, erected in 1706, is
a rectangular building measuring externally about
57 ft. by 18 ft., with diagonal angle buttresses, and a
bell-cote,*** containing one bell, over the west gable.
The schoolhouse, of two stories, occupies the east
end of the building, which is faced with coursed,
undressed stone, and has a slated roof. The entrance
to the chapel is at the west end by a well-designed
classic doorway, above which is a round-headed
vnndow of three lights, forming with it a single archi-
tectural composition. There is
an altar-piece of canvas painted
by Mrs. Creed, and two wooden
tablets with long inscriptions
relating the foundation of the
chapel and school.-' Two doors
at the east end, one on each
side of the altar, lead to the
schoolhouse, to which there is
also external access. The side
windows of the chapel are of
two rounded lights. There is
an addition to the building at
the east end or the north side.
Oundle is governed by an
Urban District Council of 15
members formed in 1895, and
is also the head of a Rural Dis-
trict Council extending from
Yarwell to Thorpe .\church and
from Bulwick to VVarmington,
the town itself being excepted.
The Urban District Council
succeeded a body of Commis-
sioners appointed under an Act of l825,^consisting of
the lord of the manor, the vicar and the master of the
school as ex-officio commissioners, and 92 others named
in the Act. The number was not to fall below 40
and the qualification was ^^500. The streets were to
be improved by the removal of the Butter Cross,
Shambles, etc. ; the market day was changed from
Saturday to Thursday and a stock market added ;
provision was made for lighting the town with gas or
oil. The old Ascensiontide fair was liter represented
by a pleasure fair on Whit Monday ; St. Valentine's
fair for horses is kept on 2; February, St. Lawrence's
fair is discontinued, but a new fair is held on
12 October. The Urban Council controls the water
supply, but gas is supplied by a company.
The history of Oundle begins with St. Wilfrid,
who established a monastery here, where he died
in 709 ; his body was taken to Ripon.'^' A later
archbishop of York (Wulfstan) was buried at Oundle
in 957.^ The town and the surrounding district
were at a very early time given to the abbey of Peter-
borough, being restored or confirmed to the abbey in
972 ; the charter shows that it then was the local
government centre for ' eight hundreds ' and that it
had a market.*^ It was probably about this time that
St. Ethelwold visited the place in his endeavours to
restore the abbeys destroyed by the Danes.'* Leofsi
son of Bixi afterwards despoiled the abbey of Oundle
and other lands, and they lay waste for two years ;
afterwards, however, he was compelled to restore
them."
As in the case of most monastic manors, the history
of the place was peaceful and uneventful. With
the district generally it suffered from the ravages of
earl Morcar in 1065,** and again from King John's
vengeance on the monks of Peterborough in 1216 ;
Oundle : The Talbot Hotel
the church escaped, but the granges were destroyed.**
In 1230 Henry III passed through on his way south
from Stamford to Hertford.'" Occasional outrages
are reported, as when the bishop of Durham's men
were assaulted in 1297, and despoiled of the goods
they had purchased for the bishop in the market ;'*
or when in 1 35 1 some knights and their men broke into
the abbot's park and carried away his goods and deer.'*
A series of grants of pontage for the repair of Ashton
bridge began in 1352 with renewals every few years
till 1401.''
Sabi-'e Johnson, a Polebrook woman, wrote in
1545: 'Ripen hath buried one of plague and at
Oundle they die still very sore. I fear this town '
[Glapthorn],'^ ; and a month later : ' At Oundle they
die sore.''*
In the next century Oundle seems to have been a
meeting place for county business, especially in con-
nection with the musters of men liable to serve.'*
John Leland " gives a good description of the town
as he saw it about 1540, approaching from the south.
The river name should be noticed : ' The town
standeth on the further ripe as I came to it. The
bridge over Avon is of five great arches and two small.
There is a little gutter or brook coming upon the
causey as I entered, on the left hand, into Avon river.
•" The vane is dated 1706.
•' The inscriptions are given in Bridges,
ii, 412. " Local Act, 6 Geo. IV, Cap. 32.
" Bede, Hut. EccUs. v, 19.
" Angl. Sax. Cbron.
" Birch, Cartul. Sax. iii, 582.
"• Sparke, Hut. Angl. Script. (Hugo
Candidut), iii, 17.
" Hist. Eltin. (Anglia Christ.), 122.
«» y.C.H. Norlhar.is. i, 262.
" Matth. Paris, Hist. Angl. (RoUs Ser.),
ii, l8g.
" Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 284.
" Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 286.
" Ibid. 1350-54, p. 205. See also p.
" Ibid. p. 304, &c.
" L. and P. Hen. VIII, xx (2), 641.
"Ibid. 855.
" E.g. Cal. S.P. Dom. 1623-5, P- 4°^ i
1627-8, p. 102. See also 1629-31, p. 351 ;
1640, p. 164.
" ItiH. i, 4.
87
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
among the arches of the bridge. The town hath a very
good market and is all builded of stone. The parish
church is very fair. One Robert Wiat, a merchant,
and Joan his wife made a goodly south porch . . .
They also made on the south side of the churchyard a
pretty almshouse of squared stone, and a goodly
large hall over it for the brotherhood of that church.
And at the west end of the churchyard they made
lodgings for two chantry priests founded there by
them. The scripture in brass on the almshouse door
beareth the date of the year of our Lord 1485 as I
remember. At the west-northwest end of Oundle
churchyard is the farm or parsonage house^ impro-
priated to Peterborough. It is a £50 by year. Peter-
borough was lord also of the town, and now the king
hath allotted it to the queen's dowry. . . . The
river of Avon so windeth about Oundle town that it
almost insulateth it, saving a little by west-northwest.
Going out at the town end of Oundle towards Fother-
inghay I rode over a stone bridge through which the
Avon passeth. It is called the North bridge, being of
a great length because men may pass when the river
overfloweth, the meadows lying on every side on a
great level thereabout. I guessed there were about a
^-^n..:tt
Oundle : Laxton's School
thirty arches of small and great that bare up this
causey. From Oundle to Fotheringhay a two miles
by marvellous fair corn ground and pasture, but little
wood.'
An elaborate extent was made in 1565.'° The
whole main street now called West Street and North
Street was then High Street, and New Street was
Bury Street ; St. Sithe's (or Osith's) Lane, leading
down to her meadow, was then Lark Lane. Leland's
description of the Guildhall is borne out : ' A very
fair hall, builded with freestone.' The lord's ' stock-
house and cage for punishment ' stood at the turn
from the Market Place to Bury Street.''" The
Burystcde is thus described : ' A general hall with
cook-house adjoining and several little garrets under
one roof, a tiled stable and the malthouse thatched
with straw. '*^ Near by was the Drumming Well,
which was one of the curiosities of the town. In a
letter of Feb. 1667-8 occurs this account of it :
' There is much discourse of a strange well at
Oundle, wherein a kind of drumming, in the manner
of a march, has been heard. It is said to be very
ominous, having been heard heretofore, and always
precedes some great accident. I wrote to the town
for an account of it and was informed . . tliat it beat
for a fortnight the latter end of last month and the
beginning of this, and was heard in the very same
manner before the [late] King's death, the death of
Cromwell, the King's coming in, and the fire of
London.'*"
V\'illiam Butler commanded the Parliamentary forces
here ; he destroyed the house of the Ferrars at
Little Gidding and also Lyveden.*^ The district
seems to have been on the Parliamentary side, but a
letter writer in 1655 speaks of ' this disaffected
corner,' and states that there were persons enlisting
horses and men at Oundle and promising fourteen
days' pay.*'
In 1666 there was again an outbreak of the plague,
brought from London ; there were over
J 200 deaths.** Several tradesmen's tokens
were issued about that time, sixteen being
recorded by Williamson between 1657 and
1669.** A project for making the Nene
na\igable from Peterborough to Oundle
occurs in 1692, but docs not seem to liave
been carried through.*' Sir Matthew
Dudley about 1700 tried to establish the
manufacture of serges, etc., bringing
weavers over from Flanders ; but the
effort did not succeed.*' A view of the
town was engraved in 1710.** In 1722
there was a complaint that the postmistress
of Oundle was notorious for opening
letters.*' Soldiers were stationed in the
town in the l8th century.^"
A curious scheme for the relief of the
unemployed was tried here a century ago.
At a Vestry meeting on 9 Feb. 1820,
it was resolved that a levy of Sd. in the pound
should be paid by every occupier of land and other
property in the parish who was assessed above a
certain amount and considered competent to employ
his quota of men and boys, or pay the amount
assessed to the Overseers according to a plan outlined
in a pamphlet printed at Oundle by T. and E. Bell.
The plan was that if a farmer spent an amount equal
to the levy in employing men and boys (men at
iSd. a day and boys at 6d.) he would be relieved alto-
gether ; if not, he would be relieved of so much as
he had so spent.
Sir William Laxton, founder of the school and
almshouses, was a native of Oundle, who acquired
wealth in London, becoming an alderman and mayor
'* Hearne notci that Stow «ay8 :
'Called the Bery-itede, for that it wat a
beriege in time of pcit.'
•• .Many extract! are given in Canon
W. Smalley Law'i Oundle'i Story 24-46
from which the text it taken ; liiti of the
freeholderi and copyholderi are printed,
pp. 45-'i- The lurvey it kept at Biggin.
*• Dr. Law tayi the itocki were later
moved to the wcit end of the town, by
Jeiui Church.
*' The houie now called Berryitede it
on a different lite.
"'Cal. S. P. Dom. 1667-8, p. 255.
See Moreton, Nal. Hiii. 0/ Norlhanti.
310-313; Norlhcnii. N. and p, i, 102;
Dr. Law (op. cit. 41) give i later inttancet.
*• W. Smallry Law, op. cit. 85.
88
*• Cal. S. P. Dom. 1655, p. 149.
" Ibid. 1666-7, p. 53.
" G. C. Willianiton, Traders' Tokens,
893-
" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv (6), 282-3
*' W. Smalley Law, op. cit. 108.
" Ibid. 100.
«" //.)/. MSS. Com. Rep. x (4), 31.
•" W. Smalley Law, op. cit. 1 14.
!»'■■
OuNDLE : Old \'ii\v of St. Osyth's Lane
* ^
t^'if
. VUMiir.
\ >r
^x
a« .'•^-. w-*
'\>ar m. -^-..i...
V
..<S
'^'-W.
A*,
JEl
OUNDLE IN I 710
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
OUNDLE
(1544). He died in 1556 and was buried in St. Mary
Aldermary."
Less attractive were two other natives — the fanatic
William Hacket (d. 1591) and his associate or disciple
Giles Wigginton (d. c. 1597). The former was expected
to inaugurate a new religious era, but as his disciples
talked of dethroning the queen, he came under the
suspicions of the Government and was ultimately
executed at the Cross in Cheapside, London. Wig-
ginton's extreme Puritanism brought him into conflict
with Whitgift and he was deprived of his vicarage of
Sedbergh ; ultimately, however, he was restored. He
wrote some theological works.
Peter Hansted (d. 1645) was born at Oundle and
educated at Cambridge, but had the D.D. degree
given him at Oxford in 1642. He published various
comedies and a poem in praise of tobacco ; also
several sermons. He died at Banbury during the siege.
John Newton (d. 1678), brought up at Oundle but
ipringing from a Devonshire family, was educated at
Oxford, and distinguished himself as a mathematician
and author of school books. He was also a firm
royalist and after 1660 received promotion, becoming
a canon of Hereford in 1672.
Richard Resbury was vicar of Oundle during the
Commonwealth period,'^ but resigned before 1662
and practised physic, preaching, however, in his own
house at Oundle. His son Nathaniel was baptised
at Oundle in 1643, educated
at Cambridge, and being a
conformist obtained various
benefices, becoming chaplain
to William and Mary in 1691.
He died at Reading in 171 1.
The Whitwells were another
local family. William Whit-
well settled in the house now
known as Berrystead about
1680. John Whitwell, who
took the name of Griffin, was
born at Oundle in 1719 and
had a distinguished military
career, finally becoming field marshal (1796). In 1784
he was allowed the title of Lord Howard of Walden
(4th baron) in right of his mother, and was created
Lord Braybrooke in 1788. He died in 1797.
Stephen Bramston, a lawyer, resided at Bramston
House about 1700. James Yorke Bramston, son of
John Bramston, born at Oundle 1763, while studying
law with Charles Butler, became a Catholic and ulti-
mately a bishop, being Vicar-apostolic of the London
district in 1827. He died 1 1 July 1836.
Wynne Ellis, born at Oundle in 1790, made a
fortune in business in London and became famous as a
picture collector ; 44 of his pictures are in the
National Gallery. He also gave large sums to
charities, including ^^50,000 to Simeon's Trustees.
He died in 1875.
Thomas DLx, usher of the school, wrote on land
surveying (1799) ; one of his illustrations is a plan of
the fields in N.E. Oundle.
Whitwell of Berry-
stead. Azure three grif-
fons' heads razed or.
Miles Joseph Berkeley, F.R.S., born at Biggin in
1803, was a distinguished botanist ; he became vicar
of Sibbenofi, 1868, and died in 1889."
Other men of note were connected with Oundle by
residence. Robert Wild, a puritan divine, ejected
from his benefice in 1662, at last settled in Oundle,
where he died in 1679. Dr. Anthony Tuckney,
ejected from the mastership of St. John's College,
Cambridge, after the Restoration, and William
Dillingham, similarly ejected from the mastership of
Emmanuel, passed some of their later years in Oundle.
Dillingham's brother was the conforming vicar. John
Noorthouck, author of a History of London, etc.,
passed the end of his life at Oundle, dying in 1816."
Thomas Hayncs, of Oundle, wrote several books on
gardening, 181 1-2.
King Edgar in 972 confirmed to the
MANORS monks of Peterborough the ' tun ' called
OUNDLE, with all that lies thereto,
called the Eight Hundreds, and market and toll,
so freely that neither king, bishop, earl nor sheriff
may interfere, but only the abbot.*^ This was con-
firmed by later kings.^' In 1086 the abbot had
6 hides in Oundle. The mill was let for 20s. and
250 eels. There were 50 acres of meadow, and woodland
of 3 leagues by 2 leagues ; when stocked, worth 20i.
The market yielded 25/. The whole was worth
5j. in 1066, but in 1086 ;^ii.^' Land in Thurning,
Winwick, Luddington and Hemington belonged
to this lordship. Some forty years later the abbot
held 6 hides in demesne in Oundle.^' Yet another
document of the same date states that there were
4 hides geldable, out of which 25 men held 20 yard-
lands, and rendered 20/., 40 hens, and 200 eggs.
The men of the town had 9 ploughs, .-ind ploughed
once a week in autumn for the lord ; and other works
were done. Tiiere were 15 burgesses, who ren-
dered 30'. The market rendered £^ y., and the
mill 40/. and 200 eels. The abbot kept the wood in
his own hand. The men of the town and 6 ox-herds
rendered 5/. chevage. The church pertained to the
altar of the abbey .^'
Richard I gave 40 acres in the manor of Oundle
to be free of all exactions.*'* Henry III in 1268
granted a yearly fair on the morrow of the Ascension
and for fourteen days following at the manor of
Oundle ;*i and in 1304 Edward I granted the monks
free warren in their demesne lands of Oundle and
Biggin.*^ In 1316 the tenants of Oundle and its
members were the abbot of Peterborough, the abbot
of Crowland (for Elmington), and Hugh de Gorham
(for Churchfield, etc.)P
Burgesses have been mentioned above. An " R.,
abbot of Burg," Robert of Lindsey (1214-22), con-
firmed various liberties to the men of Oundle : they
were quit of all tallage, and might marry their
daughters as they pleased ; they were, however, to
reap three days in the autumn, the abbot providing
food for them on one day, and to pay pannage. The
abbot reserved all pleas of the portman-mote and all
customs belonging to the market. For these liberties
" Xorltanis. .V. and Q. iv, 49.
" Cat. S. P. Dom. 1653-4, p. 31.
" Nortbants. N. and Q. iv, 221.
'* These notes are chiefly from Diet.
Nat. Biog., supplemented \>y the local
information in Canon Law's Oundle's
Story.
" Birch, Cartul. Sax. iii, 582. Oundle
is called a ' former possession ' by Hugh
Candidus (Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script, ii,
■7)-
" Cat. Chart. R. i, 22; li, 142, 485;
iv, 4, 8, 274, 276, 278 ; Rol. Cart. (Rec.
Com.), 82.
" y.C.H. Northants. i, 313. For the
Woodland, see ibid. 280. " Ibid. 367.
" Liber Niger (Camden Soc. 47), 158.
•K Cart. Antiq. x (2).
«' Cal. Chart. R. ii, 101.
«• Ibid, iii, 43.
•> Feud. Aids, iv, 28.
89
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
the annual rent of ^^5 19/. "jd. due to the abbey
was increased to ^12 l/j. 6i/.** The value of the
manor of Oundle and the grange of Biggin was
assessed at ^44 \\s. a year in 1291.*^ In addition to
the burgesses there were franklins and virgaters (or
semi-virgaters).*'*
A long account of the abbey's rights in OUNDLE
and BIGGIN was compiled in 1321 after the death
of Abbot Godfrey. In the town was a capital messuage,
with dovecote and two water mills; also 170 acres
arable land, with meadow and pasture. At Biggin
were 200 acres arable land in demesne, and other
260 acres newly brought under the plough and there-
fore worth only id. an acre ; also a park ; two free
tenants rendered js. and a pound of cummin. There
were 37 free tenants in Oundle, holding 24 burgages,
and rendering £10^. i\d. ; ten natives with 8 virgates
of land, rendering £4 ; twelve natives with 7 virgates.
Market Place
rendering £i i^s. \d. ; with various boon works.
The portman-mote and market tolls yielded 53J. ^d. ;
and there was another court worth y. \d. a year.
The total was £43 I u.** At an enquiry de quo warranto
in 1329 the abbot claimed, among other things,
' through toll ' at Oundle, as held by his predecessors,
viz., for each sack of wool zd., each horse load iW.,
bundle on a man's back \d., cartload of merchandise
zd., and other dues for animals and wine. He alleged
that in former times there was no common way
through Oundle, on account of the inundation of the
waters, and this toll was granted for licence to pass
through the abbot's land and make two bridges
(at the cost of the county) on this soil." A rental
of April 1400 shows that the burgages were then
held at varying rents, but 4J. was a usual sum ;
suit to the oven and portman-mote, and other customs
were in force. Sometimes there were several tenants
for one burgage. The burgesses' charter is mentioned,
but not recited. The list of the free tenants is headed
by John Wakirlee, who held one carucate of land,
paying l2s. rent and providing reapers at harvest
time ; if he brewed, there was id. for ale toll ; pan-
nage, id. for each pig. His tenants also rendered
\d. rent, ale toll and pannage, and did reaping.**
About the same time the fields were measured ;
Inhamfield, Howefield, and Holmfield are names."
In 1565 a freehold tenement in Hillfield was recorded
thus : ' This was a manor in Wakerlees' days
and kept a court baron upon the same, which is now
dismembered because the land is sold to divers
persons.'*
Of the tenants there is little to be told. Vivien
de Churchfield held J hide in Oundle in the time of
Henry I," having received it from Abbot Thorold
(1070-98), together with \ hide in Warmington,
to be held by serjeanty of serving as the abbot's
knight with two horses and arms.'^ This probably
descended like Churchfield. In 1400
Lord Fitz Walter held in right of his wife,
daughter of Sir John Devereux, a free
tenement formerly belonging to Hugh de
Gotham." There are a few fines con-
cerning tenements in Oundle, among
which may be mentioned those by which
John de Grey obtained (1259-61) a
messuage and land from John de Suleny
and a similar tenement from William
de Musca and Joan his wife.'* In 1345
Thomas de Pabenham held 50/. rent of
Roger de Grey from a carucate of land
in Oundle occupied by Basilia, widow
^.^^^ of John de Croyland.'*
" William Cook of Oundle, who died in
1503, held messuages and land there of
the abbot ; his heir was his son Richard,
aged seven.'® Richard Chamberlain died in 1624,
holding messuages etc. in Oundle of the king as of his
manor of East Greenwich, lately belonging to the
Minoresses of .'\ldgate." From depositions taken a
few years before, it appears he had land by the North
Bridge, Howehill fields, Pexlcy, Windmill fields, St.
Stithes fields. Further Marsh, Higher Marsh, Hey
furlong, the Long Leaze beneath the Fleet, and
TwidaUs Crowder meadow.'* Other religious houses
having lands here were the priory of Fineshade," the
college of Fotheringhay,*' and the Hospitallers.*'
The abbot's grange or manor of Biggin has been
mentioned above. Fulk de Lisures, forester to
Henry II, made a purpresture upon the demesnes
of Oundle which William his son quitclaimed
to Abbot Benedict (U77-93). The abbot then built
there New Place, or Biggin Grange.*- Geoffrey Cras
later released to the abbey his land in the Biggin,
the ' new place of the monks.'*' In 1285-91, Gilbert
de Clare, carl of Gloucester, laid claim to the manor.
_^#
''*'^ii
" Black nook of Peterborough (Soc.
Antiq.), f, lybd.
*^ Pope S<ch. Tax. (Rec. Com), 55.
"• Note hj Mr. W. T. Mcllowi, citing
an old abbey rental.
••Sparkc, Hiit. Angl. Script, iii, 188-90.
•' Plae. dt Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 553,
557-
•• Cott. MS. Nero C. vii, f. 107. It ii
itated that lome burgagei which had
come into the abbot'i handi had been
turned into cottagei.
"Ibid. (. 154,/.
'" \V. Smallcy Law, op. cit. 30.
" A'.C.//. Norihanls. i, 367, 'one
•mall virgate.'
" Cbron. Pelrob. 175.
'• Cott. MS. loc. cit.
" Feet of r. Northanti. 44 Hen. Til,
no. 728 ; 4; Hen. Ill, no. 795.
" Cal. Inq. p.m. viii, 598.
'• Ibid. Hen. VII, ii, 742. Hii will ii
at Canterbury (Hist. MSS. Com. Rfp.,
viii- 3.U)-
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (ler. ii), ccccviii, 147.
Hit heir wai hit brother Robert, who
90
married .\nne Rowlands, widow, and made
hiB will in 1607.
'» Eich. I)ep«. 18 Jas. I, Mich. 15.
'• Add. Chart. 7570.
•"Chan. Inq. p.m. («er. ii) »x, 29;
Ciil. Pal. 1404-1509, p. 587.
" VV. Smallcy Law, op. cit. 33.
•■ Pytchlcy, Bk. of Fees (Northanti.
Rec. Soc), 76n. Cott MS. Clco. C. ii,
f. I5d.
"Ibid. f. 73d. He received tenements
(Crassfee) in Oundle as compensation ;
Pytchley's Reg. f. 95.
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
OUNDLE
alleging that it was not appurtenant to Oundle,
as the abbot claimed, but was a member of the honour
of Clare.** The plea is said to have been ended by the
sudden death of Earl Gilbert (Dec. 1295), and the
abbot retained the manor.'*"
After the dissolution of the abbey the king's
ministers in 1546 returned as profits of the manor
of Oundle the mill, the manor of Biggin, and various
minor profits, as the oven, fishery (at farm), the
custom called Tolchester ale, tolls of fair and market,
and pannage.** The steward was Sir Robert Tyrwhitt,
and the bailiff Gilbert Pickering, both appointed
in 1543.** This lordship was among those assigned
as jointure to Queen Katherine Howard in 1542,*'
and then in 1543 to her successor, Queen Katherine
Parr ;** the latter held until her death in 1548. Then
on 26 January 1549-50 Edward VI granted to John
earl of Bedford the manors of
Oundle and Biggin, with fairs,
markets, and sheriflf's tourn in
Oundle, with other lands, to
be held by the fortieth part
of a knight's fee, and render-
ing for Oundle ^^39 ip. li.**
He died in 1555, and was suc-
ceeded by his son Francis.
Two new fairs on the feasts
of St. Valentine (14 Feb.) and
St. Lawrence (10 Aug.) were
granted, and the survey al-
ready cited was made for this
earl in 1565. He died on
28 July, 1585, having in 1580 settled the manors of
Oundle and Biggin on his wife Bridget, with re-
mainder to his eldest son Francis. This son having
died the day before his father, the succession passed
to his son Edward, then aged 1 3.** Edward died on
I May 1627, without issue, and was succeeded in the
title and entailed estates by his cousin Francis (son
of William), but the heir general was Anne, daughter
of John, son of Francis, the 2nd earl, and wife of
Henry Somerset Lord Herbert,'' who in 1628 suc-
ceeded his father as earl of Worcester.
A dispute as to a court leet at Oundle, between
Francis earl of Bedford, as lord of the manor, and
Sir Edward Montagu, as lord of the hundred, about
1630, shows what were the customs. The former
argued that the grant of the manor to the first earl,
as it included the sheriff's tourn, proved his claim,
while the latter insisted on the grant of the hundred
to his predecessor. Sir Edward Montagu. The abbots
of Peterborough had kept a leet of the hundred,
and the residents and inhabitants of Oundle had done
suit and service at it. Two eminent lawyers, to whom
the matter was referred, agreed that the old leet
was of the hundred, not of the manor, and that the
earl's tenants in Oundle were not discharged of suit
to it. No new court had been created. The sum
Russell, Earl of Bed-
ford. Argent a Uon
guUi and a chief sable
charged with three scal-
lops argent.
\
T7'
I y
\
w
#
^-^^^'^
MI
m
tourn, belonged to the manor ; also 8;. for the view
of frankpledge. There might be suits for anything
under 40J. in the manor court, although the manor
was within the hundred. Goods of felons and fugi-
tives also pertained to the manor. As to fines and
amercements there was a doubt ; they probably
belonged to the hundred.'^
The story about this time is not clear. Edward
earl of Bedford and Lucy his wife in 1614 gave
the grange of Biggin, with its appurtenances in
Oundle, Barnwell and Southwick, to trustees,**
and later in the same year they demised the manor
house of Oundle (i.^., the Berrystead), with its dove-
cote, lands etc. to John Okes for 99 years,"* and
this term or a fresh one became vested in Sir James
Evington in 1632-33.*^ The manor itself, with the
rectory and the advowson of the vicarage, are stated
in a fine of 1629 to be in
the hands of Henry earl of
Worcester and Anne his wife
and John Somerset, son and
heir apparent of the earl ; *'
this was probably Anne's in-
heritance. Mention of the
rectory and advowson seems
to be a mistake. The rectory,
which had a manor of its
own, had been sold by James I
in 1607 to Sir Thomas Mon-
son and William Darwyn, but
the advowson of the vicarage
was retained by the Crown.'
On this point, therefore, the fine of 1629 is mis-
leading. John Somerset died soon afterwards,
and in 1636 the manor of Oundle, with the
rectory and advowson, ten messuages, three water
mills, dovecote, lands, etc., in Oundle, Barnwell, and
Southwick was held by his brother Edward, then son
and heir apparent of the earl of Worcester.^ It is
probable that he wished to sell it, for the earl of
Manchester, writing to his brother, Lord Montagu,
says : ' The last time I spoke to my lord of Worcester
he told me he thought his son would sell Oundle.
I accepted of his offer. . . . The place is so fit for you
as I imagine you will strain your purse or sell some
other land to have this.'* The Montagus did not get
it, and in 1650 Henry earl of Worcester was a
vouchee in a recovery of the manor.* The manor
and part at least of the lands were held by Sir Gilbert
Pickering and Elizabeth his wife in 1662,' but in
1676 William earl of Powis, Elizabeth his wife,
Henry earl of Norfolk and Henry his son and heir
apparent held the manor of Oundle with the rectory
and advowson of the vicarage. Warranty was to be
given by the heirs of Elizabeth,* who was the younger
daughter of the above-named Edward (Somerset), mar-
quis of Worcester ; her elder sister Anne had married
the earl (later, duke) of Norfolk, and this accounts
Somerset, Earl of Wor-
cester. France quar-
tered tvith England tn
a border gobony argent
and azure.
of 6s. lod. for 20J yardlands, in respect of the sheriff's for her husband and son being named in the fine.
" Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script, iii, 148 ;
Rolls of Parlt. i, 69.
"•Pytchlcy's Reg. f. 138.
" Mini, .\ccts. Hen. VIII, 2661.
•• L. and P. Hen. VUl xviii (i), p. 545,
546.
" Ibid, xvi, p. 716.
" Ibid. lix (1), 644.
" Pat. R. 3 Edw. VI, pt. 7, m. 43.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. ii), ccxi, 183.
" Ibid, ccccxxxv, 118.
" Bridges, Hut. Nortbants. ii, 407,
citing the Duke of Montagu'i evi-
dence!.
" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 1 1 Jaj. I.
•* Ibid. Trin. 12 Jas. I.
» Ibid. Easter. 8 Chas. I ; Hilary
8 Chas. I.
91
I.
»• Ibid. Divers Cos. Easter 5 Cha
' Pat. R. 5 Jas. I, pt. 19.
• Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 1 1 Chas. I.
> Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.
Rep.) i, 276.
• Com. Pleas Recov. R. Mich. 1650,
m. 21.
' Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 1 4 Chai.II.
• Ibid. HU. 27/28 Chas. II.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
The earl (later, marquis) of Powis refused to accept
the Revolution of 1688 and went into exile with
James II, dying at St. Germains in 1696. Being out-
lawed, his estates were confiscated, and in 1691 it was
found on inquiry that he had held the manor of
Oundle, with court baron, market, three fairs, water
mill, lime kiln, Park Wood,
Hills Wood, Pexley Wood,
Hall Wood, Parson's Wood,
the capital messuage called
the Berrystead and site of the
manor (late in the possession
of Bridget Page and then of
Thomas Manning), also the
manor of Biggin, with appur-
tenances in several adjacent
parishes.' The estates were
in 1696 granted to William
Earl of Rochford* but were
eventuaUyrestored to theMar-
quis of Powis's son William (d. 1745),* who sold Oundle
and Biggin together with Benefield in 1724. to James
Jove. He died in 1741 and was succeeded by his son
Charles who died unmarried in 1776. Charles was fol-
lowed by his brother Peter Joje of the Inner Temple,
who by his wiU proved in 17821" left his property to his
wife Anne for life with remainder to his sisters Eliza-
beth and Jane. Anne married as her second husband
Sir Isaac Pocock and died in l8l8,i' being predeceased
by her sisters-in-law. The trustees under the will of
the survivor Jane Joye^^ sold the property in 1822 to
Jesse Watts Russell, who had taken the additional
Herbert, Earl of Powis.
Party azure and guUs
three lions argent.
Watts. Azure a bend
engrailed ermtnois between
two crescents or xotth a
quarter gules.
Russell. Ermine a lion
gules with a collar argent
and a chief azure with
three roses argent thereon.
name of Watts on his marriage with Mary daughter
of David Pike Watts of Portland Place. He was
succeeded in 1875 ^X ^'^ son Jesse David Watts
Russell, M.P. for North Staffordshire (1879) whose
eldest daughter Josephine married Sir Arthur Birch,
K.C.M.G. Their son Capt. Arthur Egerton Watts
Russell (who took the name of Watts Russell in 1898)
died in 1923 leaving a son David. Mrs. Watts
Russell of Biggin Hall, is now lady of the manor.
The Court Rolls begin in October 1678. The
market dues are still paid to the lord of the manor.*^'
The RECTOR!' MANOR has been mentioned in
the preceding account. Nothing is known of the
conditions while it was in the possession of the rectors
of ..he parish ; the rector about 1400 paid 2J. a year
for free entry to the fields.*' When the vicarage was
constituted the rectory was appropriated to the monks
of Peterborough and shared the fate of their other
estates. In 1546 John Nox farmed the rectory for
^55 13/. \d. a year,i* and in 1590 the Crown granted
the rectory, with the advowson of the vicarage, to
Sir Anthony Mildmay, Grace his wife, and Mary their
daughter, for life." Mary became Countess of West-
morland and died in 1640, when this grant would
expire. As already stated it was sold by James I to
Sir Thomas Mounson and WiUiam Darwyn with all
rights, court, view of frank pledge, etc., except the
advowsons of churches, vicarages, etc., to be held in
socage of the manor of East Greenwich at a perpetual
rent of j^39 6s. Sd. ; ecclesiastical dues were to be paid
also, including 6s. Sd. a year to the poor and ^^i 3 6s. Sd.
to the vicar of Oundle. **
In 1674 the rectory manor was acquired by Bernard
Walcott from William Page and Bridget his wife, as
the manor of the rectory of Oundle and the rectory
with its tithes, etc., two messuages, 30 acres of land,
dovecote, etc. ; i' and Bernard Walcott and Elizabeth
(Page) his wife were in possession in 1680.** Out of
the Crown's reserved rent ^32 13^. ^d. a year was
granted by James I to his queen Anne** and by
Charles I to Queen Henrietta Maria.^"* Later it was
sold and shared by various persons,^* whose rights
were purchased in 1750 by William Walcott,^^ who
thus held the rectory clear of the rent to the Crown.
Dr. WilUam Walcott, who died in 1806, left (by his
wife Mary Creed) a son William, after whose death in
1827, aged 74, the property went to the Simcoe family,
who disposed of it.'' The rectory manor was
purchased by John Smith, who was succeeded by his
son John WilUam Smith, of a local family of brewers
and bankers. The dues included mortuaries and
Easter dues, called ' Apron money ' in Oundle,
because the tradesmen were the chief contributors ;
these were originally fixed at 2d. per head, but ulti-
mately stood at is. 2^d. per house.^'' About 1870 the
court of the rectory manor was held every two or
three years.
CHURCHFIELD occurs as Ciricfeld in an ancient
account of the boundaries of a pieceof land atOundle.*'
Abbot Thorold gave Vivian \ hide in Circafeld" as
well as the \ hide in Oundle already mentioned, and
he held it c. 1125.^' He was succeeded by Henry
Angevin, who was living in 1 133 and 1 163, and
he by William Angevin before 1 169, who left a
widow Ismania.^* Baldric the Angevin, his son,
held a knight's fee in Churchfield, Warmington
and Oundle in 1189,^' and acquired 32 acres in
Churchfield from Matefrei the dispenser in 1202,**
and was witness to a charter of Abbot Robert de
' Excheq. Spec. Com. 6806 ; Cal. S. P.
Dom. 1691-2, p. 545; 1693, p. 447.
• Pat. R. 8 Will. HI, pt. 6.
• Feet of F. Nurthanti. Trin. 10 Geo. I.
"P.C.C. 548 Goieling,
"Berry, County Geneal. Berkt, 118;
In.tit. Bki. fP.R.O.).
'• Priv. Acti, I Geo. IV, cap. 31;
P.C.C. 190 Blihop.
"• Information of Mr. L. M. Hewlett.
'• Cott. MS. Nero C. vii, f. ro;.
"Minj. Acct). Hen. VIII, n. 2661.
" Pat. R. 3i Eliz. pt. 19.
"Pat. R. 5 Jame» I, pt. 19.
" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 15/26
Chai. II.
"Ibid. Mich. 32 Cha». II.
'• Pat. R. II Ja.. I, pt. 13.
" Pat. R. 2 Ch.:i. I, pt. 4.
•' Feet of F. Nortlianti. Hil. z Will, and
Mary ; Trin. 9 Geo. I.
"Ibid. Trin. 24 Geo. II. The dc-
92
forcianls were Elizabeth Horton, widow,
James Horton, and Thomas Roane.
"W. Smallcy Law, op. cit. 98, 121-3,
130. " Ibid. 130.
" Birch, Ciriul. Sa.x. iii, 368.
«' Chron. Petrob. 175.
•' r.C./l. Northants. i, 366.
" For this descent tee Pytchley, Bk. of
Fees (Northants. Rec. Soc), I2i.
•• Cal. Chart. K iv, 277.
•» Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 4 John.
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
OUNDLE
Lindsey (1214-22).*' Later (f 1242) William Angevin
held J a knight's fee in the three places named,*'
but he or a son William incurred forfeiture
in the Barons' war, his lands being given to Philip
Marmion, who afterwards released the same to the
abbot of Peterborough.'^ Hugh de Gorham married
Margery, daughter of William Angevin,^'' and in 1289
did homage to the abbot for lands in Churchfield,
Oundle, Stokes, and Warmington.*^ Hugh died in
1325, but in 1312 he and Margery his wife gave the
reversion of this estate to William de Gorham (their
son) and Isabel his wife.*" William and Isabel sold
the manor of Churchfield to Robert de Wyvill, bishop
of Salisbury, in 1332.^ Four years later it was
settled on Henry Wyvill and Katherinc his wife and
their issue,^ and in 1346 Henry Wyvill held J knight's
fee in Churchfield, formerly the
estate of Geoffrey Angevin.-"* Kathe-
rine, as widow of Henry, held it in
1352, when it was settled on Geof-
frey Blount and Margaret his wife,
probably the daughter of Henry.*"
Twenty years later (1372) Walter de
Frampton of Melcombe Regis and
Margaret his wife had the manors
of Churchfield and Lyveden.*' From
this date Churchfield followed the
descent of Lyveden in Aldwinkle
St. Peter (y.f.).
In 1338 the abbot of Peterborough
received licence to acquire in mort-
main inUr alia 33/. rent from
tenementsin Oundle called CL.4RT-
VAUS FEE, the vendor being the
rector Robert de Croyland.''^ It does
not appear that this ' fee ' was a
manor. The surname occurs in 1347,
when Richard Aloora of Oundle was
pardoned for the death of Nicholas
Clerivaux.^''
ASWION (Ascetone, 1086, Ays-
ton, Hen. I and common, Ashton, xvi
cent.) is now a separate township,
formed in 1885 when the adjacent
hamlet of Elmington was added to it
abbot of Peterborough held it as 4J hides. Two mills
rendered 40/. and 325 eels. It was worth only 8/. in
1066, but in 1086 j[j. There was a free tenant, Ivo,
who held J hide, worth 4J." About 1 1 25 the abbot
held 4 hides in demesne, and there were now two free
tenants, Ralph Papilian and Levenoth, holding
\ hide each.** The descent of these free tenements
cannot be traced; they are mentioned in 1321 as
paying 5/. each,*' in 1408 the fees formerly held by
John Papilliun and WiUiam son of Ralph contributed
lid. each to the sheriff's aid**. Simon de Stokes in
1242 did the service of J knight for the 2 hides and
one virgate he held of the abbot in Stoke, Ashton and
Warmington.*' Some 13th century deeds ^^ show
that there was a family using the local name, Robert
son of Adam de .'Vyston making some small gifts."'
Roger Malherbe of Polebrook gave to the Hospital of
St. John Baptist at Armston the rent of a pound of
cummin due from David de Ayston and Constance his
wife for land at Ashton.'* The abbey of Peter-
borough's estate in Ashton, lands, rents, miUs, and
bakehouse, was valued at £10 ijs. \d. a year in
1 291.5'
In 1309 Godfrey abbot of Peterborough and the
convent demised to John de Croyland and Robert his
son for life a messuage and 3 virgates of land in
Ashton, with the water mills, millpool, moor, Yak-
In 1086 the
Oundle : Paine's Almshouses
holme and meadow ; they were to render £"] 16/. %d.
a year and do ploughing and other services." A
survey made in 1 321 shows that in Ashton there were
a messuage and two water miUs ; in demesne were
102 acres of arable and 10 acres of meadow. Fourteen
natives each held a messuage with I virgate of land
(which would account for 3J hides, unless the ' small
virgate ' was used), paying 8/. rent and doing two
ploughings at the winter and Lent sowings, and
reaping two days. Two other natives, holding
2j virgates, rendered 25/., and two customary tenants
held I virgate and rendered lis. ; but these four did
" Pytchley, Bk. 0} Fees, loc. cit.
" Sparlce, Hut. Angl. Script, iii, 62.
•• Ibid. (Swaffham) cclxxxii b. A Geof-
fre/Angcvin was apparently holding about
that date {Feud. Aiii. iv. 448). Godfrey
Angevin occurs in 1235 ; Bk. of Fees,
5«5-
•• CM. Top. el Gen. v, 334.
" Cbron. Petroh. 144.
" Feet of F. Northantt. case 175, file 64,
no. 127.
" Ibid, case 177, file 74, no. 113.
" Ibid, file 75, no. 152.
•» Feud. Aids, iv, 448.
•" Fe«t of F. Northants. case 177, file 79,
no. 382.
•' Ibid. 46 Edw. III.
♦' Cal. Pat. 1338-40, p. 56.
♦» Ibid. 1345-8, p. 561. The Clerevaus
family is mentioned in the Peterborough
register at the Society of Antiquaries,
f. 1S4.
«• L.G.B. Order 17763.
♦' y.C.H. Northants. i, 314.
" Ibid. 367.
*' Sparke, Hill. Angl. Script, iii, 191.
93
•» Cott. MS. Nero C. vil, i. 213.
" Sparke, Htst. Angl. Script, iii, 62.
'" Feet of F. Northants. 41 Hen. Ill,
13 Edw. I.
" Harl. Chart. 45 E. 62-64 ; Emma
relict of Robert Areyd of Ayston and
daughter of John son of Hubert de
.'Vyston were dealing with land in Pole-
brook in 1326. Buccleuch Deeds K 5.
"Cott. Chart, xxvii, 14; see Harl.
Chart. 44, A. 6.
"Pope Nicb. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), 55.
•« Cott. MS. Cleo. C. ii, f. 83 d.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
no works. A cottar paid 6d. rent, but worked for the
lord every Monday from midsummer to Michaelmas."
John Nor\s7ch of Gayton died in 1504 holding a
messuage in Ashton of the abbot of Peterborough by
fealty and Sd. rent. His wife Katherine is named,
and his son Simon, aged 13, was heir.'*
In 1535 the revenues of the abbey from Ashtprt are
given.*' In 1553 the manor of Ashton, with manor
house and three mills, and the rectory, etc , of Wil-
boston, were sold by the Crown to Hugh Lawe and
Thomas Lawe, who were to hold them by the service
of Jj; knight's fee.**
A dispute arose in 1602 between Sir Anthony
Mildmay and others and Thomas Lawe concerning
the tithes of Ashton and its four mills. Three of the
mills were corn mills under one roof; the other was
a fuUing mill. Defendant and his father Hugh Lawe
were alleged to have had the tithes by lease 50 years
ago. Robert Selbie, a tanner, aged 78, deposed that
in his youth the fulling mill was known as the New
Mill; 13/. 4^. used to be paid as tithe for the corn
mills. Hugh Lawe had transferred his lease of the
tithes to Mr. Price (who married Hugh's daughter),
and Sir Anthony Mildmay then had it. He remem-
bered the chapel of ease at Ashton; a priest called
Sir John said service there in the time of Henry VIII,
and witness had acted as his clerk. Another witness
said that the minor tithes were paid to Sir John as
' chapel tithes,' but the tithes of corn, wool, lamb,
and the mills, with 30^. 2\d. and a few pence for the
ancient meadows belonged to the rectory. There
was mention of Sandells meadow in Ashton, said to
belong to Oundle.*'
Thomas Lawe died at Ashton in 1628, holding the
manor of Ashton, and a capital messuage occupied by
Peter Dayrew. By a settlement made in 1627 the
estate was to remain to John Lawe of VVigston (Leics)
and then to his brother Thomas Lawe of Mount
Sorrell (Leics) ; but the heirs were Bridget Aprice,
widow, his sister ; Thomas Aprice, son of Robert
Aprice by Elizabeth his wife, another sister ; John
Wildbore, gent., son and heir of Matthew Wildbore
and Elizabeth his wife, one of the daughters of John
Flamsteed and Catherine his wife, another sister of
Thomas Lawe ; and this Catherine's four other
daughters — MericU wife of William Gifford, KLiry
wife of Francis Muscott, Joan wife of Roland Tampian,
clerk, and Catherine Fowler, widow.*" The brothers
were probably half-brothers and therefore passed over
by the jury.
The estate was probably disposed of in parcels and
the ' manor ' does not occur again, though J. W.
Smith of the Rectory, Oundlc, was styled lord of it in
1874.'! A manor house and a green are marked on
the map to the south of the chapel.
Peter Dayrew or Darrell, mentioned above, was
succeeded by Newdigate Paynes, who died at Ashton
in 1643, leaving a son and heir Thomas, aged 14J.
The tenure was unknown.**
Croyland Adbey. GuUs
three knnes argent quar-
tering azure three scourges
Bridges states that about 1710 there were 25
families in Ashton.*^ About 1870 ' a few scattered
farm houses ' was the description. The Hon. Mrs.
N. C. Rothschild is now the owner, with a residence
called Ashton Wold.
In ELMINCTON, according to a spurious charter
in Ingulph, the abbey of Croyland held 3 hides of
land at an early date, possession being confirmed by
Edred (946-95 5). *■' Ingulph says that Abbot Turketul
gave this manor when he became a monk.** In 1086
the abbey had two estates
there ; one hide was held in
demesne, with land for one
plough, and was worth 8s. in
1066 and l6x. in 1086 ; two
hides, with land for three
ploughs, were worth 12s. and
20/. res[iectively at those
dates.** In the survey made
c. 1125 only one hide is re-
corded.*' A fine in 121 8-9
between the abbot of Croyland
and Ascelin de Waleis con-
cerning land in Elmington is
recorded.** It was found in
1276 that the abbot's tenants in Elmington had
withdrawn suit to the hundred court for the last
24 years ; they had been accustomed to do this suit
and pay lid. at the sheriff's tourn.*^ In 1 3 16 the
abbot of Croyland was lord."
At the dissolution it was found that the abbey had
received £j los. from Elmington, by a demise made
in 1534 to Thomas Clark and Margaret his wife ; the
money was used by the pittancer and almoner." The
reversion of the ' manor and hamlet ' was sold to Sir
Robert Kirkham in 1542, it being stated that Richard
Clark, father of Thomas, had held it beforetime ;
Kirkham was to hold by knight's service.'* The manor
had been included in the jointure of Queen Katherine
Howard in 1541," but she was executed a year later.
Sir Robert Kirkham, who also acquired Fineshade,
which became the seat of his family, died in 1558, while
the lease was still in force.'*
The manor of Elmington was
included in a settlement made
by his son William Kirkham
the elder in 1586.'* This settle-
ment is recited in the inquisi-
tion taken after his death in
1599, when he was succeeded
by a son William, who had a
brother Thomas.'* Walter
Kirkham son of William died
in 1636 holding the manor of
Elmington of the king by
knight's service ; the heir was
his cousin Robert (aged 40),
son of the above-named Thomas
Kirkham, Anne his wife and Wa
000
Kirkham of Fine-
ahadc. .Urgent a fesse
piles xvith three bezants
thereon.
In J647 Robert
Iter (his son) joined
" Sparke, ffiit. An^l. Script, iil, 191.
" Cal. Inq. p. m. Hen. VII, ii, 882.
•' Valor Eccl. (Rtc. Com.) iv, 279.
" Pat. R. 7 Edw. VI pt. 3.
" Exch. Ucpi. 44 Eliz. Trin. 4,
Northantt.
•" Chan. Inq. p. m. (ler. ii) ccccUxiv,69.
•' Whclan, Northantt. 716.
•• Chan. In<j. p. m. (ler. ii) dcclxxvi, 69.
•• llitl. Northantt. ii, 411.
" Dugdalc, Mon. Angl. ii, 115.
•' Ingulph's Chron. (cd. Birch) 55, 59.
" V.C.H. Northanls. i, 319.
•' Ibid. 387.
" Feet ol F. Northantt. caie 172, file 14.
•• Rot. llund. (Rec. Com.) ii, 14.
'" Feuil. jlidi, iv, 23.
" Mini. Accti. Hen. VIII, 2020.
94
'•t. and r. Urn. VIII, xvii, g. 1012
(4°).
" Ibid, xvi, p. 716.
'* Chan. Inq. p.m. (per. ii), cxix, 117.
Will printed (but misdated 1657) in Coll.
Top. et Gen. vii, 44.
" Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 28 Elii.
'° Chan. Inq. p. m. (ler. ii), cclxxx, 76.
'^ Ibid, cccclxxxi, 104.
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
OUNDLE
Corpus Christi Col-
lege. GuUi a pelican tn
ber piety argent quarter-
ing azure three lilies
argent with stalks and
leaves vert.
in selling this manor to Henry Pickering ; warranty
was promised against the heirs of Sir Robert Kirk-
ham, the great grandfather, William the uncle, and
Walter his son.'* Kirkham was deeply in debt."
Henry Pickering and Elizabeth his wife were in
possession in 1660.*" He was created a baronet soon
afterwards, and seated at Whaddon in Cambridgeshire.
His father was rector of Aldwinkle in the Common-
wealth time (1647-1657), and he himself had been a
colonel in the Parliamentary army. His wife was
Elizabeth daughter of Sir Thomas V'incr. He died
in 1668.*' The manor of Elmington, with a messuage,
150 acres of land, etc., was in 1681 secured to Sir
Henry Pickering, bart.,'- but
was sold in 1687 to Dr. John
Spencer, master of Corpus
Christi College, Cambridge,
and dean of Ely. The price
paid was ;£3,6oo and the
estate was said to be worth
£200 a year. Dr. Spencer gave
it to his college, for the aug-
mentation of the mastership
and other endowments. He
expressed a wish that the
master should visit the estate
twice in three years.*^ There
is now no manor claimed, but
the estate remains in the
possession of the college. There were two farm-
houses in Elmington about 1870.
The church of ST. PETER consists
CHURCH of chancel 47 ft. by 21 ft., with north
and south chapels, each 22 ft. by 17 ft.,
clearstoried nave 80 ft. by 20 ft., north and south aisles,
each 18 ft. wide, north and south transepts, each
36 ft. by 20 ft., south porch, and west tower 17 ft.
square, surmounted by a lofty spire. All these
measurements are internal. There is also a two-
storied vestry on the north side of the chancel at
its east end. The total internal length of the church
is 153 ft., and the width across nave and aisles 62 ft. ;
across the transepts the width is 98 ft.
No portion of the building is older than the 12th
century, but part of a pre-Conquest grave-slab, or
coffin-lid, with plait-work in two panels,*'' found below
the south transept about 1904., is probably a relic of
the burial ground attached to the first church on the
site.
The plan of the existing building seems to have
developed from a cruciform 12th-century church
with central tower, the nave of which was the same
width as at present, and about 51 ft. long. The tower
occupied the position of the existing eastern bay, with
transepts about 18 ft. long, extending north and
south,and the chancel wasabout half itspresent length.
There is no reliable evidence of any change of plan
before the end of the 12th century, though a plain
chamfered string at the west end of the north aisle
has suggested that an aisle may have been added on
that side. It is more likely, however, that the string
is not in its original position, and that the plan of the
building remained unchanged until the first half of the
13th century, when very extensive alterations and
additions were made, amounting almost to a rebuild-
ing. Tlic chancel was lengthened, chapels added on
both sides at its west end, that on the south being the
Lady Chapel,*^ and aisles thrown out from the nave
in line with the ends of the already existing chapels.
All this work appears to have been completed by about
1260, but the south aisle and chancel chapels seem
to have been built first and finished before the north
aisle was taken in hand, and probably before the chan-
cel was completed. The reconstruction and lengthen-
ing of the transepts followed during the last quarter
of the 13th century at a time when geometrical
window tracery was fully developed, but the central
tower appears to have remained standing till about
1340-50. It was then taken down, the western arch
of the crossing being entirely removed, and the tower
space added to the nave, new arches made into the
chancel and transepts, and a clearstory carried through
from the west wall of the chancel to the west end of
the church. The three new arches closely correspond
in moulding to the chancel arch at Cotterstock
church, which was rebuilt soon after the foundation
of the chantry college there in 1338 ; it is therefore
reasonable to suppose that this work at Oundle
dates from the decade immediately preceding the
Black Death, the outbreak of which may have post-
poned the building of the west tower. The five-light
east window of the south chapel, and possibly one of
the south windows, was inserted about this time, or
perhaps a little later. The tower and spire were not
begun until the end of the 14th or the beginning of the
15th century. Their scale suggests that a rebuilding
of the nave, such as took place later at Kettering,
was contemplated, though never carried out. The
tower was built a little to the west of the existing
wall of the church, with complete buttresses on all
sides, the old wall being afterwards taken down and
the nave joined to the tower by hastily executed
masonry.
The chancel walls were heightened and the pitch of
the roof lowered in the 15th century, when the present
east window was inserted. The roof of the north
chapel was also lowered in the same way, the head of
its east window being raised and a large new window
inserted in the north wall. Other windows were
inserted during this period in the aisles. The porch
is said to have been built about 1485 by a merchant
named Robert Wyatt and Joan his wife, who founded
the almshouse to the south of the churchyard. The
vestry is an addition of the l6th century.*'
The spire was rebuilt in 1634, and restored in 1837,
and again in 1899. The church underwent an exten-
sive restoration in 1864, when galleries and pews
erected earlier in the century were removed.
'* Feet of F. Northant). Mich
Chji. I.
'• Cat. Com. for Comp. ii, 1088.
•• Feet of F. Northant!
II Chai. II.
" G. E. C. Complete Bart, iii, 151.
" Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 33
Chai. II.
23
Trin.
" R. Masters, Htst. of Corpus Christi
Coll. 167.
" The slab is figured in The Reliquary
and lUust. Archaologist, xi, 127 (April
1905). It is not earlier than the
nth century and may be a» late a>
c. 1050.
'* Alio known lateral the Guild Chapel
95
from the Guild of Our Lady founded by
Robert Wyatt.
" In 1908. when some work in connec-
tion with the heating apparatus was in
progress on the north side of the vestry,
a two-handled earthenware drinking cup
of the Tudor period was found a few feet
below the surface of the ground : Smalley
Law, Oundle's Story, ao.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
The whole of the building is faced with rubble
and has low-pitched leaded roofs behind plain and
battlemented parapets. InternaUy, except in the
chancel and chapels, where the plaster remains, the
waDs have been stripped.
Of the 1 2th centur}' fabric a fair amount of walling
remains at the east end of the nave and west part of
the chancel, the arches to the chapels and transepts
having been cut through the earlier walls. Archi-
tectural features, however, are scanty. The top of
a round-headed window remains over the arch between
the chancel and north chapel, and the inner arch of
the blocked north doorway of the chapel appears to
be of this date, but if so it is not in its original place,
probably indicates that there was a projecting vice
or staircase turret at the north-west corner of the
tower,** which would stand within the aisle until the
tovver was demolished, and thus account for the
different spacing of the arcade on that side.
The chancel has a five-light east window with
perpendicular tracery and a roof of four bays. In the
south wall are two 13th century windows, each of
two trefoiled lights and quatrefoil plate tracery,
lengthened in the 15th century by their heads being
raised, and there is a similar window in the north
wall. The plain trefoiled piscina recess is original,
but the three sedilia west of it, arranged in ascending
order, were made in the 14th century, and have ogee
■ 120 Century
[111132 Century
OI4™Cent.cI340-5
^ 14 111 Century late
□ I511JCE.NTURYCI485
S 162 Century
□ Subsequent &. Modern
SovLE OF Feet
Plan of Oundle Church
the position of the vnndow indicating that there was
no chapel here in Norman times.*' The south-west
quoining of the original south transept at its junction
with the aisle is still visible, and portions of early
masonry in all probability remain at the angles of
both transepts, and possibly at the west end of the
nave.** The position of the west arch of the central
tower seems to be indicated by corbels which remain
in the walls, and the 12th century plinths of the chancel
arch and of the responds of the north and south
arches of the crossing remain below the present
bases. The longer masonry pier at the east end of
the 13th century nave arcade on the north side
cinquefoiled arches with crocheted hoods and finials
on detached shafts with moulded capitals and bases.
The responds of the arches between the older western
part of the chancel and the chapels have rounded
capitals with good early 13th century mouldings and
bases with deep water moulds. The arch on the
north side is segmental in form and cuts into the
sill of the Norman window ; that on the south side
is pointed, with two chamfered orders, and retains
traces of colour. The west arches of both chapels
opening into the transepts are of two chamfered
orders and the capitals of the half round responds
have nail-head ornament much renewed. The arch
"The chamfered itring in the north " Ahience of bonding between the been deilroyej when the tower wai joined
aiile and a fragment of itring in the nave and aiile walli «hows th.it the 12th up to the nave.
louth wall of the louth chapel appear century church wai aiilcleti ; but all the " Reaioni for this view are itatcd bjf
alio to belong to the 12th century original maionry at the west end may have Mr. A. B. Whittingham in Smalley Law,
building. op. cit. 17.
96
OuNDLE Church : The Interior, looking East
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
OUNDLE
from the south aisle into the transept corresponds to
these in detail, and the south arcade of the nave, of
three bays, has arches of two chamfered orders, and
cylindrical columns with deep water-moulds in the
bases and elaborately moulded capitals with nail-head
ornament in the groove above the lowest projecting
member. The west window of the south aisle is
composed of five graduated lancets. All the work
from the west part of the chancel represents the
alterations of the beginning of the 13th century.
In the north arcade of the nave, also of three bays,
the bases of the cylindrical columns have hollow
mouldings of a more cramped design than those on
the south, and there are no bands of nail-head in the
capitals, while the abaci, instead of consisting of a
roll, fillet, and soffit hollow, are formed of a scroll,
quirk and small undcr-roll. The arch"* into the
north transept from the aisle has a continuous outer
chamfer and the responds supporting the inner
chamfer are filleted, as are also the responds of the
arcade on this side. The west window of the north
aisle, wholly renewed on the outside, consists of four
lancets of equal height, the head being filled with
plate tracery — two quatrefoiled circles below a
sexfoiled circle. The westernmost of the two south
windows of the south chapel has three quatrefoiled
circles in the head. The north doorway has a
moulded arch of three orders on jamb shafts with
moulded capitals and bases. All this work, with the
possible exception of the doorway which appears
earlier, is of about the same date as the east part of
the chancel, c. 1250-60.
The transepts project 18 ft. beyond the aisles and
beneath the south transept is a small vaulted crypt,
or bone-hole, approached by steps from the outside.
The five-light north window and the two-light west
window of the north transept have tracery formed by
the curving and intersection of the muUions, and the
three-light east window has geometrical tracery in the
head, with very acute-angled trefoil cusping, and a
row of ball-flower round the upper portion. The
south window of the south transept is also of five
lights with excellent geometrical tracery, and the east
and west windows are each of two rounded trefoil
lights with a large quatrefoiled circle in the head.
The five-light east window of the north chapel is of
this later period and has geometrical tracery, but
it appears to have been lengthened in the 15th century
when the plain four-light north window was inserted.
The window in the south aisle east of the porch is
of five trefoiled lights with geometrical tracery, but
that west of the porch and the corresponding window
in the north aisle are four-centered 15th century
openings of three cinquefoiled lights. The window in
the north aisle east of the doorway is of five cinque-
foiled lights like the east window of the chapel. In
the south chapel is a piscina beneath a cusped ogee
arch, and there is another piscina of the late 14th
or early 15th century in the south transept, together
with an aumbry.*'
The three arches of the former crossing are of two
moulded orders, the outer continuous, the inner on
responds with moulded capitals and bases. The
northern entrance of the rood-loft remains high up
in the north wall above the arch to the transept,
and near the chancel arch. Close to it is a corbel
for the rood beam and above is a small window
inserted to throw light upon the rood. There are
four three-light clearstory windows on each side of
the nave, but owing to the masonry left between the
new arches and the nave arcades the eastern window
of the clearstory on cither side is not above tlie eastern
arches.
The tower is of two main stages and has a moulded
plinth, double angle buttresses, battlemented parapets,
and octagonal angle turrets. Tlie first stage is again
sub-divided into two, the lower of which has traceried
panels. The shallow west porch, with cinquefoiled
ogee arch and crocketed gable, is a late example of a
local peculiarity of design, the earliest instances of
which are the west porches of Higham Ferrers and
Raunds.*' On either side of the gable is a canopied
niche, and the west doorway has continuous mouldings.
Above the porch is a two-light pointed window, with
a similar ' blind window ' on either side. The upper
stage of the tower has three tall traceried belfry
openings forming the middle panels of a row of five
on each face, and below the windows is a less lofty
range of panels the middle one alone of which is
open. The tall lower stage is vaulted, with a large
central well hole and the arch to the nave is of three
chamfered orders. The spire has crocketed angles
and three sets of lights on the cardinal faces. The
date 1634 '^ ^^^ ^^ ^°^^ numerals under the lowest
light on the south side. The general design of the
tower and spire is of much grace and beauty, the
predominant vertical lines giving it an apparent
lightness which its bulk, in proportion to the building
to which it is attached, might seem to preclude.
The south porch is vaulted and has a chamber
above approached by a circular stair from the aisle.
The outer opening has a four-centered arch with square
label and quatrefoiled circles in the spandrels. Above
are three empty niches, with windows between, and
the gable has a battlemented parapet. The inner
doorway is of the same date as the porch, with panelled
jambs. In the porch is a stone coffin.
The lower portion of a 15th century rood screen
remains, with three traceried panels on each side of
the opening, and the screens separating the chancel
from the chapels, which appear to be rather earlier
in the same period, are entire. The fine painted
pulpit is apparently of 15th century date, though it
used to be known as the ' Reformation pulpit.' It
has traceried panels ornamented with gilded leaden
stars on a black background, and is picked out in red.
The fine brass lectern with eagle book-rest is of
mid-i5th century date ; the ' tradition ' that it came
from Fotheringhay seems to be unsupported.
The font now in use dates only from 1909 and is of
late gothic pattern, but there is an early i8th century
block font with panelled sides under the tower.
At the end of the gangway in the north transept
is a heavy oak chair used by the master of Sir William
Laxton's School, on the head of which is the inscrip-
tion 'svMPTv APtiMATOnnAiiN lo.vdinensivm a.d.
•0 When the suir to the central tower apei is north of the middle of the span. "There are other neighbouring
was removed the arch would be rebuilt " There is also an aumbryin the north examples at Rushden, and Keyston,
and widened on the south side ; its transept. Hunts.
97
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
1576 ' ; and in the vestry a small wooden box inscribed
'This belongs to the vestry in Oundle 1676,' a 17th
century table, and a chest with two locks of about the
same period. Below the tower is a brass chandelier
inscribed ' Ex dono Edvardi Bedell generosi anno
Dni 1687.'
The oldest monument is the grave slab of John
de Oundle, rector {d. 1278), in the floor of the chancel.
It has a floriated cross and imperfect border inscrip-
tion in Lombardic characters, which Bridges recorded
as 'Johan : de : Undele : ke : ci : Lid: Re: de: Scoteye.'*'
In the chancel floor are also three large blue slabs
with indents of brasses, two of which were of priests,
and stones marking the burial places of John Lewis,
apothecary, and William Filbrigge,*-* gent., both of
whom died in 1687. On the north wall of the chancel
is an elaborate Renaissance monument with Ionic
columns, strapwork patterns, and shields of arms, to
Martha Kirkham of Fineshade {il. 1616), the pedestal
of which bears inscriptions to Susanna, widow of
William Walcot {d. 1737) and her daughter Elizabeth
(d. 1735), and on the opposite wall tablets to William
Walcot, M.D. of Oundle {d. 1806), and his son of the
same name (d. 1827). There is also a tablet in the
chancel to William Raper, gent. {d. 1746), who
' studied physick all his life, not to profit but for the
pleasure of doing good.' In the floor of the north
aisle is a stone with indents of two figures and a brass
inscription recording the burial of Katharine, wife of
Peter Dayrell, second son of Sir Thomas Dayrell
of Lillingstone Dayrell, Bucks, and eldest daughter of
Edward Cuthbert of Oundle, who died in 1615,®^
and at the west end of the same aisle is a small mural
monument to William Loringe of Haymes, Gloucester-
shire (d. 1628).** In the south aisle is an inscription
to James Risley (d. 1605) and Joan his wife {d. 1612).
There is an elaborate monument between the windows
of the south chapel to Mary Gaymes {d. 1760) and
Mrs. Mary Kirkham, formerly wife of W. Langhorn
Games (d. 1754), and at the west end of the south
aisle one commemorating the Rev. John Shillibeer,
head master of Oundle School and rector of Stoke
Doyle {d. 1 841).
There is a ring of eight bells in the tower, four of
which (the treble, second, third and tenor) were
recast by Mears and Stainbank in 1869, after damage
by a fire in the belfry on 16 August, 1868. The
fourth is by Thomas Eayre, of Kettering, 1735, the
fifth by the .same founder 1742, the si.xtli by Joseph
Eayre, of St. Neots, 1763, and the seventh by Thomas
Osborn, of Downham, Norfolk. 1801.*' The chimes
date from the renewal of the clock in 1868.
The plate consists of a silver cup, paten, flagon
and breadholder of 1697, given by William Whitwell,
each piece engraved with liis crest, a talbot passant ;"
two silver basins of 1729; two silver plates of 1731,
inscribed ' The gift of Mrs. Alice Hunt, widow, to
the church of Oundle, Com. North'ton,' with the
.irms of the donor; two silver cups of 1847, and two
plated cups given in 1855.^
The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i) all
entries 1625-1732, (ii) all entries 1733-1748, (iii)
baptisms and burials 1 749-1 Si 2, marriages 1749-5S,
(iv) marriages 1755-80, (v) marriages 1780-1806,
(vi) marriages 1808-12.
The advowson of the rectory be-
ADVOWSON longed to the abbey of Peterborough.
The earliest of the rectors known is
one Ralph, who occurs in 1159.' He may be the
rector, Ralph, who renounced his right to certain
tithes.^ The earliest recorded presentation is that of
John de Burgo, subdeacon, in 1234.^ John deThoresby,
one of the king's clerks, held the rectory of Oundle
for a time (1346) as one of his many preferments;
he became chancellor (1349-56) and archbishop of
York (1352-73).* Richard de Treton, rector, made
an agreement with the abbot in 1395 concerning his
claim to take wood and brushwood in the abbot's
woods at Oundle for his fires in the rectory.*
To Treton in 1393 succeeded Thomas Brake,
presented by the abbot ; two years later the king
presented John Boor, and a long dispute ensued, in
the courts in England and at Rome, with various
changes of fortune,* but at last, in 1402, Brake's
right was fully acknowledged, and he retained the rec.
tory for about thirty years in peace.' Anotlier dispute
occurred about 1447, when Dr. Henry Sharp, rector
of Potterspury, obtained a papal grant of the rectory,
vacant by the promotion of John Delabere to the see
of St. David's ■? the king pardoned this breach of the
statute of provisors on account of Sharp's services
at Rome in the establishment of Eton college,* but
one John Middlehame appealed to the pope against
it, alleging a presentation by the abbot. ^*
In 1477 the king, after inquiry, allowed the abbot
to appropriate the rectory in mortmain, a sufficient
endowment for a vicarage lacing provided, and a
distribution to the poor yearly. For this permission
the convent gave the king certain lands at Cotten-
ham." This was carried out, and the vicars were
" lliil. oj Northanls. ii, 408. John
was also rector of Scotter, in I.incoln-
thirc.
*• He issued .1 token in i/i^S with
inscription * Will. I-'ilbrigp, linen draper
of Oundle ' and arms borne by the family
of the same name se.tced at Fclbrigg,
Norfolk. Sorlhanis X. and (J. ii, 92.
•*Thc Inscription is given in Bridges,
op. cit. ii, 409. The brasses had then
been lorn a"ay.
•* The monument wa» on the sicstcrn-
most pillar of the north aisle in Bridget'
time. It has small Corinthian pillars,
but the figure of I.oringe (kneeling at a
desk) il missing, below are twelve children
— five loni, five daughters, and two
infants. This William Loringe had two
sons at Sir William Laxton'i school;
.Smilley law, op. cit. 61.
"' The former treble and second uerc
by Thom.TS Osborn, 1780, the third hy
Henry Baglcy, of Ecton, :6S8, and the
tenor by Thomas Eayre, 174S. 'I'he
inscriptions on all the bells arc given in
North, Ch. llelli of Xorihniiis. 3-;5. The
old third was the gift of John Lewis;,
apothecary, who is buried in the chancel.
Ili< bequest of ,^50 ' to buy a sixth bell '
indicates that there were then five, and
that a new treble was added. Eayrc's
tenor of 1748 was a recasting of one ' paid
for by Thomas Tranklin,' who in his will
dated 12 May, 1544, beijiicathcd xijd.
to the rcp.'iration of the bells within
Oundle church : Smallcy Law, op. cit.
"The flagon, in addition, bears the
inscription ' Lx dono Wm. Whitewell,
cent. 1697.'
'•'' ^Llrkham, Cit. Plate of Norlhaiiis. 221.
' W. S. Law, UundU's Story, 15.
' Sp.irkc, lliil. Angl. Script. (Swaphain),
t. \cvii.
= Rat. /fug. df ll'rUes (Line. Rec. Soc).
ii, 115.
* U. N. B. i C<il. Pat. 1343-45, p. 4S0.
' Cal. Pat. 1391-96, p. 610; Cal. Pap.
Letters, v, 608 ; vi, 26.
'Cal. Pal. 1391-96, p. 649; 1396-9,
P' 52' i '399-'4ot, p. 311 ; 1401-5.
p. 9 ; Cal. Pap. Letters, v. 94, 229, 330, 367,
3871 442-
' tW. Pat. 1413-6, p. igo; 1429-36,
p. 229.
' Cal. Pap. Letters, x, 4.
" Cal. Pal. 144O-52, p. 17;.
'» Cal. Pap. Letters, X, 1 8.
'* Chan. Inq. p. ni. 17 Ldw. I\' ;
Cal. Pat. 1476-85, p. 41.
98
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
OUNDLE
nominated by the abbots till the Dissolution, and
by the Crown (except possibly during the lease to
Mildmav mentioned above) until 1 869, when this
advowson was exchanged with the bishop of Peter-
borough for that of Harpenden, Herts.
The Rectory manor has been noticed above.
In 1535 the vicar had £1^ 6s. M. a year ; and there
were two cliantry priests, each receiving loSs. 8d.
(8 marks).'- Lights in the church had an endow-
ment of i8r/.''
In 1636 Walter Kirkliani of Fincshade left £10 a
year, charged on his estate at Elmington, to maintain
daily service at Oundle at 7 in the morning and 5 in
the evening ; but the service was not rendered and
the money ceased to be paid.'*
Henry Bedell, vicar of Southwick, in 1692, was son
of ' Captain Bedell of Oundle, who died in 1693 •'•n'^
left an estate in reversion to the value of ^£140 a year
(after the death of his son) to remain in perpetual
augmentation of the vicarage of Oundle, on condition
of paying ;^I5 a year to his sister for her life and ^^300
to other relatives. ''■>
In 1710 the vicar had the 20 marks from Mr.
\Valcott,the impropriator; also^^io for reading prayers
on Wednesdays and Fridays, and £30 under the will
of the late Sir E. Nichols."
Jesus Church was built in 1879 at the west end of
the town by the late Mr. Watts Russell on or near
the site of the chapel of St. Thomas of Canterbury.
It was designed by Sir A. W'. Blomfield, and is in plan
a Greek cross with central octagonal tow^er or lantern
with pointed roof. It possesses a silver cup, paten
and flagon of 1878.
There were chapels at Ashton, Elmington and
Churchfield in 1189,'^ but the two latter have dis-
appeared without leaving any history. In later
times, as already stated, there was a chapel at the
west end known as St. Thomas's ; its origin is un-
known, but it is mentioned in the rental of 1400,'*
and Leland records its new title of St. Mary, after
Henry VIII's prohibition of the ' traitor Thomas.'
What remained of it about 1700 is described by
Bridges."
' John parson of Aston ' attested a local charter
next after John parson of Oundle, in 1248,-" but
may have been rector of some other church. The
chapel of St. Mary M.agdalen (.') was still in use in the
time of Henry \ III, as appears by a suit quoted above,
in which the small tithes of the township were shown
to have been given to the priest who served it. It
was desecrated shortly afterwards, and in 1548 the
cemetery and chapel of Ashton in Oundle, and the
cemetery and chapel of Oundle (probably St. Thomas's)
were sold by the crown to Francis Samwell, to be held
in socage as of the manor of Green's Norton.^' The
site is said to be that of the Manor House. A new
chapel and schoolhouse was built in 1708, under the
will of Jemima Creed, daughter of John Creed of
Oundle.
Joan Wyot, widow of Robert Wyot, obtained the
king's licence in 1499 to found a gild of St. Mary in the
parish church of Oundle, and endow it with lands to
the value of £10 a year for the maintenance of one
or more chaplams to celebrate for the soul of Robert
Wyot and for Joan herself and the members of the
gild, who might be both men and women.*^ Jqj,,
died in or before 1507, when her executors obtained a
further licence to alienate 32 messuages, 16 acres of
land and 10 acres of meadow in Oundle for the en-
dowment.^' The gildhouse stood in the churchyard
of Oundle, and was admired by Leland ; it was later
used as the home of the grammar school and alms-
house. In the time of I'hilip and Mary a rent of 10;.
came from the Gildhall, which abutted on a bake-
house called the Cornhill on the east, the churchyard
of St. Mary on the north, and lands of Lord Bedford
and — Rudston on the south and west. Before the
suppression of the gild certain poor folk had lodging
and allowances, and afterwards they were maintained
by the charity of the people. The executors of Sir
William Laxton desired to make a perpetual foundation
there, and in 1557 Lady Laxton agreed to pay £20 for
the building.2' The rest of the lands had been sold
in 1550.25
Of the religious history of the place there is little
to be told. Among the presentments to the bishop
in 161 3 was one against Henry Wortley, who had
maintained that ' women had no souls but their shoe-
soles,' but recanted ; and another against William
Wortley for allowing a wizard to come into his house
to tell fortunes. 2* The vicars seem to have been
Puritans, Eusebius Paget being deprived for that
reason in 1573.^' His successor 'found the people
in a state of the most deplorable ignorance and pro-
faneness, living in the constant profanation of the
Lord's day by Whitsun ales, morris dances and other
ungodly sports. '2* At the archbishop's visitation in
1635 the church and churchyard were found to be
very much out of order. The schoolmaster (Mr.
Cobbes) was admonished for using a wrong catechism
and for expounding the Ten Commandments out of
the writings of a silenced minister; he refused to
bow at the name of Jesus. The ministers of the
deanery appearing, were, in general, canonical in their
habits, except those of the peculiars, of whom there
was but one in a priest's cloak.^' The Quakers were
no more welcome here than elsewhere to the estab-
lished Presbyterians ; a document of 1655 names
William Butler of Oundle among ' those now in
commission who have all along given the power unto
the Beast and have fought with the Lamb, and to
this day think they do God service in imprisoning
His servants.'** It does not appear that there was
ever a Quaker meeting-house here.
At the Restoration the vicar, Richard Resbury,
retired, but ministered in his house. He was
licensed in 1672 as a Congregationalist, and Robert
Wild and Thomas Fownes as Presbyterians ; the
house of Mary Breton at Oundle was licensed for
meetings. '1
" falor Ecd. (Rec. Com.) iv, 290.
"Charity Ccrtlfs. 35-+0.
'* W. Smalley Law, op. cit. 79.
'* W. Kcnnet Case of Impropriaton
(1704), 337; quoted by Bridges, ii,
472-
'• Bridget, Hisl. Nortbanlt. ii, 408.
" Cal. Chart. R. iv, 274.
" Cott. MS. Nero, C. vii, f. nod.
" Iltsi. Xonhatils. ii, 405.
»J Add. Chart. 5888.
= ' Cal. Pat. 1547-8, p. 311.
" Ibid. 1494-1509, p. 173.
'Mbid. 518.
" Harl. MS. 607, f. Sid.
»^ Cal. Pat. 1550-53, p. 23.
99
'» \orlhaiils X. and Q. i, I 58.
=' T. Coleman, Indep. Churches 1
.\orthants. 250.
" Ibid. 252.
" S. P. Dom. Chas. I, 293, n. 128.
" Cal. S. P. Dom. 1655-6, P- 64.
" Ibid. 1672, pp. 473, 475, 578, 678.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
The existing Independent congregation appears to
have originated from these efforts, and in 1690 or
1691, soon after the Toleration Act, a meeting house
was built, which in 1724 became the property of the
congregation.^ It continued in use until the
present Congregational Chapel in West Street was
built in 1864. John Paine (1801) left ;£300 to it.
The Baptist Chapel, now part of New House,
Stoke Road, is stated to have been founded in 1800.
The present building in West Street dates from 1852.
The Wesleyan Methodists had two ministers in
1827.^ The old chapel was in New Street ; the
present one, in West Street, was built in 1842.
The Jinks family, carriers, set apart a room in
their house in West Street, where Mass was said
occasionally from 1807 to about 1880 by priests from
Peterborough. Fr. Ignatius Spencer, the Passionist,
preached his first sermon there.^
The Feoffee or Town Estates
CHARITIES comprised in Indenture of Lease
and Release dated 9 and 10 July,
1828, include the following property, viz. : allot-
ments in Stoke Road ; a field called ' Bouners Home '
containing 3 roods ; Wakerley and Dovehouse Close
and Cottage containing 22a. 2r. 32 poles ; a field
on Heme Road containing la. 3r. 9p. ; a field on
Stoke Road containing 4a. 2r. 29p., and a field at
Elton, Hunts, containing 7a., and wharf and land at
North Bridge, Oundle ; £z^ os. ()d. India 3 per
cent. Stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable
Funds ; a sum of ;^2lo los. 6d. 5 per cent. War
Stock in the names of John Miller Siddons and
others, the whole producing in 1924, with the income
from Franklyn's Charity mentioned below, ^^96 is. \d.
The estates are chargeable with annual payments in
respect of the following benefactions which were paid
to and became merged in the general property of the
Feoffees, viz. : £20 given by William Thirlby to the
poor ; ^10 given by Ralph Robinson, half the income
to be applied towards the repair of the church and
half towards repairing the highway in Oundle ; ^^lo
given by Thomas Orton, the interest to be employed
in such good charitable uses as the Feoffees should
think fit; £\2 given by Hester Lucas, the interest
to be applied in the purchase and distribution of
copies of the Netu Whole Duty of Man ; and /[lo
bequeathed by Thomas Webb in 1753, the interest
to be applied in the distribution of penny loaves on
St. Thomas' Day by the vicar and churchwardens.
Francis Hodge by his Will dated 11 November,
1695, gave j^20, the interest to be applied in the
purchase of Bibles for poor children and like pur-
poses.
In 1924 £z was distributed in doles to 8 persons ;
;f3 wa? expended in gifts ; ^^3 10/. 6d. in Bibles ; 8;.
in bread on St. Thomas Day ; ^£20 to the Oundle
Nursing Association ; £5 5/. ^d. to the Beneficiaries
of Clifton's Charity, and ^^8 ijs. iid. was expended
in material and labour on Ashton Road.
By his Will dated 12 May, 1544, Thomas Franklyn
gave about 13 acres of land for the relief of the poor.
The land was sold and the endowment of this Charity
is now represented by a sum of j^336 lis. od., Consols
with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds pro-
" T. Coleman, Indep. Churcbei in Norlhanti. 253-7.
" W. Sm.illcy Law, op. cit. 129.
" WheUn, Nonhanii. 714.
ducing £% 8/. 4^. in dividends, which sum is applied
by the Feoffees of the Town Estates
The Almshouses of Sir William Laxton were founded
by a Codicil to his Will dated 27 July, 1556, and are
under the management of the Grocers' Company of
the City of London. The almshouses are for the
accommodation of 7 poor men, who receive a weekly
stipend, and a nurse. The Official Trustees of
Charitable Funds hold a sum of £1,664 Consols
producing ^^41 12s. od. yearly in dividends. This
sum of Stock represents the redemption of a yearly
payment of £\l l2s. od. issuing out of propertv in
the City of London in the possession of the Grocers'
Company.
Parson Latham's Hospital, founded and incor-
porated pursuant to the Statute 39 Eliz. c. 5, by
Deed Poll dated 15 May, 161 1, is regulated by
schemes of the Charity Commissioners dated I July,
1910, i6 January, 1914, and I March, 1921. It is
administered by a body of 10 Trustees. The fuU
number of almspeople shall be not less than 8 and
not more than 12. They shall be poor widows or
spinsters of not less than 50 years of age. The
endowment consists of land situate in various parts
of the Counties of Northampton and Huntingdon
aggregating about 397 acres, and the following sums
of stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable
Funds: £900 13/. 31^. 5 per cent. War Stock;
£293 16;. 2d. 3J per cent. Conversion Stock, and
^^307 13/. id. 4J- per cent. Conversion Stock; the
whole producing nearly ;^650 in 1924. Out of the
income a sum of j^5o is payable to the Trustees of
Parson Latham's Educational Foundation. In 1924
stipends amounting to ;^I49 10s. od. were paid to 9
inmates, £1^ 15/. od. was expended on medical
attendance and nursing, £3 was distributed to 6
poor of Oundle, £2 to 4 poor of Polebrook, and £2
to 8 poor people in Kirton in Holland in County of
Lincoln.
The Parish of Oundle participates in the Charity
of Clement Bellamy founded by Will dated 12 October,
165S. It is administered by a body of Trustees
appointed by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners
dated 3 June, 1910. The property consists of
£2!^'i ijs. lod. Consols with the Official Trustees of
Charitable Funds producing £6 is. Sd. yearly in
dividends and a rent charge of j{^20 issuing out of
land in Cotterstock called Bartons Holme. The
income is subject to a payment of £S to the Bellamy
Educational Foundation, and the residue is applicable
in putting out apprentices to some useful trade or
occupation deserving and necessitous boys and girls
whose parents have been boiu2 fide resident in one of
the parishes of Cotterstock, Glapthornc, Oundle and
Tansor.
Jemima Creed's Charity, founded by will dated
II February, 1705, is administered by a body of
trustees in accordance with a scheme of the Charity
Commissioners dated 22 January, 1909. The pro-
perty consists of a building used as a chapel, about
20 acres of pasture land known as Law's Holme near
Ashton Bridge let for ^^25 yearly, and a sum of
£224 lis. 6d. Consols with the Official Trustees of
Charitable Funds producing £^ izs. 41/. yearly in
dividends. The stock arose partly from accumula-
tions of income and partly from the sale of 31 poles
of land. Out of the net yearly income ^£20 is applic-
100
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
POLEBROOK
able to the Creed Educational Foundation, and the
residue is paid to the Vicar in consideration of his
conducting religious services and giving religious
instruction in the Hamlet of Ashton.
By his will dated 29 January, 1723, John Clifton
gave ;^30O to the feofTees of the Town Estates, the
interest to be applied for the benefit of two poor
blind people, or failing this to be distributed among
deserving old men. In respect of this charity a sum
of j£5 5/. 4//. was distributed in 1924.
Paine's Almshouses. By an Indenture dated
21 May, 1801, John Paine conveyed to trustees 4
tenements situate at Chapel End in Oundle upon
trust to place therein poor persons or families of or
attending the congregation of Protestant dissenters
in Oundle. The almshouses have no endowment.
By an Order of the Northamptonshire County
Court holden at Oundle 17 April, i860, the Vicar
and Churchwardens of Oundle were appointed
Trustees of the Charity of Miss Charlotte Simcoe,
the endowment of which consists of ;^S00 Consols
with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds pro-
ducing £12 10;. od. yearly in dividends, which is
distributed in flannel to about 100 recipients.
The Unknown Donors Chanty consists of a yearly
payment of 6s. Sd. paid by the Hon. Mrs. C. Roth-
schild out of the Tring Estate. This payment is
distributed in flannel by the Vicar and Church-
wardens with Miss Simcoe's Charity.
The Charity of John William Smith, founded by
will proved in P.R. I June, 1 897, is regulated by a
scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 2 April,
1912. The property consists of £iJS 4 P^f cent.
1st Prcf. Stock of the L. and N.E. Rly. with the
Official Trustees of Charitable Funds producing
yearly £s Si. od. in dividends, which is distributed
in doles by the Trustees of Parson Latham's
Hospital.
POLEBROOK
Pochebroc (xi cent), Pokebroc (xii cent), Pokebroke
(xiii cent.), Pokesbrook, Pogbroke, Polbrok (xv cent.),
Polehbrooke als Polebrooke (xviii cent.).
The parish of Polebrook covers 1,836! acres, its
hamlet of Armston, 852J acres, on a subsoil chiefly
of Oxford clay, but of cornbrash in the north-west,
the upper soil being clay. There are here 681 acres
of arable land, 1,037! of permanent grass, and 13 of
woods and plantations. The chief crops are hay,
barley and wheat. In the north-west of the parish
where the River Nene separates it from Oundle,
and about the village, the land is 100 ft. above the
ordnance datum, but rises towards the south and
east to 200 ft.
The road from Peterborough enters the parish
through Ashton on the north and runs south-east-
wards through the village. A branch road bears
east to Lutton, Washingley and Norman Cross, with
a small Wesleyan chapel, built in 1863, on its north,
and the rectory, Polebrook Hall, the school and
Manor House on its south. The main road con-
tinues in a southerly direction to the Giddings,
passing the church of All Saints on the one side and
on the other the post office, noteworthy for two
16th-century chimneypieces. In the centre of the
village a stone column commemorates the fallen in
the war of 1914-18. The Northamptonshire his-
torian in the early part of the 1 8th century describes
the village as standing low on a rocky ground, with
two bridges, one ' Pottock bridge,' outside, the
other, a small horse bridge of two arches, within,
its area.i At Armston are woods called New Fox
Covert, Horse Close Spinney, Burray Spinney, and
Cow Shackle Coppice, a name which recalls the Cow-
shakell bushes and Cowshakell slade of 1602.^ There
are two moats here and the site of a chapel, possibly
that of St. John Baptist. In or before 1791 there
remained in a building here four large windows
resembling ' chapel windows,' and a high arched roof
within and two columns without.' The remains of
the chapel of St. Leonard at Armston were also found
at the end of the 19th century in a farmhouse to the
east of the Green, and near to them were some evidences
of a moat and fishponds.* This chapel was founded
apparently by Ralph de Trubleville and Alice his wife
early in the 13th century, who gave it to Royse
lady of Polbrook and patron of the church, together
with six acres of land. Whereupon Royse gave to
the chapel a font for the baptism of infants and pro-
vided a chaplain to say services daily excepting burial
of the dead. 5 There was an altar of St. Mary in the
chapel.* The abbot of Peterborough was bound to
find a chaplain to say divine service daily for the soul
of Robert le Fleming.' To the east of Polebrook
stands the rectory farm, now the property of Brig.-
Gen. A. Ferguson, and Polebrook Lodge, with New
Lodge, near the borders of Hemington. Three Acre
Spinney, with Kingsthorpe Lodge and Kingsthorpe
Coppice, with a moat adjacent and other woods, are
all in this direction.
Armston is said to have been inclosed in 1683.
Long before that time, however, other parts of the
parish had been inclosed by tenants. In 1602, at
the instance of Edward Batley, farmer of the Queen's
manor of Polebrook, it was found on inquiry that
30 acres of arable land and pasture had been inclosed
by the first Sir Edward Montagu and his son, besides
various other lands in the hamlet of Kingsthorpe.*
An Act was passed in 1790 for inclosing the common
fields of Polebrook, then reported to contain about
1,400 acres.* Armston was finally inclosed by an Act
of 1807.9'
Among place names which occur are Le Lynch-
furlong, Cookesgreene, Haselbrooke, Cuttstones Crosse
(Le Cutcrosse in Kingsthorp), Hensons Closse,
Saltersmeare, the Queenes Closse, Hartmere Furlong,
' Bridges, ftist. Nortbants. ii, 414.
• Duchy of Lane. Spec. Com. 633.
• Bridges, op. cit. 417.
• T. H. Wright, MS. notes on
Barnwell Esute, 1909.
• Buccleuch Deeds, F. 26.
• Ibid F. 3.
' Ibid F. 45.
the • Duchy of Lane. Spec. Com. 633, 645.
lOI
» Private Act, 30 Geo. Ill, cap.
•" Loc. and Personal Act, 47 Geo. Ill,
SesB. I, cap. 19 (not printed).
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Splint Close, the stone bridge called Brokforde
Brigge,!" (13th century), le Kirkegrene and Copthorn-
hill at Armston.ii
In 1921 the population of Polebrook was 310, that
of Armston 28, persons.
In 1086 Si hides in POLEBROOK
MANORS belonged to Peterborough Abbey,
which were held by Eustace the
Sheriff.'- The overlordship was claimed by the heirs
of the Earl Gilbert of Gloucester (d. I3i4),i3 but
it was retained by the Abbey until the Dissolution.'^
In the reign of Henry I 2J hides of the Peterborough
fee in Polebrook had passed from Eustace the Sheriff
to Walter de Clopton.'^ A mesne lordship over this
fee or some part of it was afterwards held by the
Lovetot lords, as at Clapton {q.v.), until Margery de
Vernon and Nigel de Amundeville surrendered their
rights in it to the Abbey.'* It is probable that the
manor of Polebrook descended with that of Clapton
(q.v.) until the close of the 12th century when it fell
to the share of Rose or Rohesia, probably sister of
WiUiam de Clopton, Lady of Polebrook," who
apparently married Hugh le Fleming. Hugh held
the Peterborough manor in Polebrook,'* and presented
to the church there." He was succeeded by his son
Robert le Fleming,'*" possibly before 1 2 19 when
Rose by her son Robert granted the advowson of
Clapton to the Abbot of Peterborough.-" Robert le
Fleming was patron and parson of Polebrook in
1232-' and in 1245 held a quarter of a knight's fee of
the old feoffment of the Honour of Lovetot in Pole-
brook.-- This seems to be the Polebrook fraction of
the Fleming's third of a knight's fee which they held
together with a knight's fee and a half de sancta
terra in Polebrook, Kingsthorpe and Clapton.^^ These
tenements went to make up the manor which in
1252 Robert granted in frankalmoigne to Abbot
John de Cauz.-'' Out of the revenues of the manor
the abbot assigned ;^ioa year for wine for the monks.-*
The manor continued in the hands of the abbey
until its dissolution in 1529.-''
Another Peterborough tenant, Thomas Smert, held
land in Polebrook in demesne in the early years of
the 13th century.'-' He or his heir of the same name
and others paid sciitage for their fees in Polebrook,
Kingsthorp and Armston before 1252.-* In 1299
Thomas Ellger did homage to the Abbot for a tene-
ment of the fee of Smert,'-^* but in 1314 the name of
Thomas Smert appears again as one of four tenants
who held of the Abbot in Polebrook.™ A holding in
Polebrook belonged to the family of Porthors. A
Reginald Porthors paid scutage in Warmington in
1253,3' and William Porthors is described as of Pole-
broo!' in 1260,^'- and held lands there about lijt).'^^
He had a son Ralph who did homage to the abbot in
I289,'" and a daughter Sarah who married Geoffrey
le Dispenser. 3* Ralph apparently mortgaged the
so-called manor of Polebrook to John son of Thomas
de Oundle at the end of the 13th century.^^ Robert
Porthors, presumably his heir, w-as holding here in
1315," and was living in 1326- 30.^* Richard Porthors
of Polebrook and Agnes his wife were deaUng with
lands in Polebrook in 1326,^' and WiUiam Porthors of
Polebrook in 1356 to 1373.'"' The last of the family
at Polebrook to which reference has been found is
Hugh Porthors of Polebrook, who witnessed a charter
in 1404.^'
Another hide and a virgate of the Peterborough
lands in Polebrook had come into the possession of
Roger Marmion in the reign of Henry I.'- This land,
as part of the fee of Robert
Marmion in Langton and
Polebrook was confirmed to
the Abbey in 1146 by Pope
Eugenius III, and in 1189 by
Richard l.«
The mesne lordship of the
Marmions passed from Roger
to his son Robert who was
slain in 1143. He was suc-
ceeded by another Robert
who was living in 1155, and
had a son Robert who died in
1 2 18. He had by his first wife,
Maud de Beauchamp, a son, ' Robert Marmion,
senior,' and by his second wife, Philippa, two sons,
' Robert Marmion, junior,' and William Marmion, a
clerk. Robert, senior, died about 1242, and was suc-
ceeded by his son Philip, a minor,''^ who died without
issue about 1292.''* On his death the mesne lordship
appears to have reverted to the abbot of Peterborough.
The holders of this fee under the Marmions were
the Grendons. Herlwin de Grendon held J knight's
fee of the Marmion Fee in Polebrook in the middle
of the 13th century.'"' He was succeeded by Ralph de
Grendon, who paid scutage for ^ fee in 1253,'" and
was living in 1262 to 1272.''* His son John was
living 1270 to 1315.''* Ralph son of John de
Grendon did homage to the abbot of Peterborough
in 1318,''" and was apparently succeeded by two
Vair a fesse
'° Bucclcuch Deeds, K. 4.
" Ibid. H. 80, 81.
" V.C.II. Nortbanls. i, 315A, 362.
" Cf. manor of Cbpton ; see also
Cott. MS. Clcop. C ii, ff. 101-12 ; Cal.
Inq. p.m. v. no. 538 ; Chan. Inq. p.m.
lidw. Ill, file 230, no. Cp2 ; ibid. Ric. II,
file 47, no. 38 ; Hen. IV, file 38, no. 41.
'* Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.) iv, 279.
'• r.C.II. Norihanti. i, 366*.
" Cf. manor of Cl.ipton ; let alio Cot(.
MS. Clcop. C ii, ff. 109-12.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 159b; Ciir.
Reg. R. (I'.R.O.), i, (I. 117, 119, 283.
" Cott. MS. Clcop. C ii, f. 104.
'• De Banco R. 54, m. I5d. '•"Ibid.
" Feet of F. Northants. ca«c 172,
file 14, No. 25.
" Rcl. Hug. dt Wtllo (Cant, and York
Soc), ii, 164.
" F.gerinn MS, 2733, f. 141b.
■' Ibid. ff. 129, 129b.
" Cott. MS. Cleop. C li, f. 1 1 1 ;
Chi on. Pelrob. (Camden Soc.) 15 ; De
Banco R. 54, m i5d.
" Gunton, //i;(. Ch. oj Petcrlwrough, 34;
Sparke, lUst. Aiigl. Script. (Walter de
Whytlesey), 129.
•* Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), iv. 279.
" Cotton MS. Cleop. C ii, f. 10.
■' Ibid. f. nob.
" Ibid. Vesp. E xxi, f. lid.
•° Ibid. f. 30 b.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 249.
•• Bucclcuch Deeds, A. 37.
" Cott. Chart, xvii, i.
" Chron. I'clroh. 145.
" Bucclench Deeds, F. 41.
" Feet of F. Northants. case 175,
file 58, no. 32.
" Cott. MS. Vcsp. E xxi, fol. 30 b.
" Bucclcuch Deeds, G. 17, 22, K. 5.
102
" Ibid. K. 5.
" Ibid. A. 77, 84, D. 24. G. 24, 25.
" Ibid. G. 19.
" V.C.H. Northants. i, 366A.
" Dugdalc, Mou. Angl. i, 391 : Cliart.
R. 119, m. 14.
" VVrottesley, PeJ. from the Pl-a K.
491-2.
" Cf. Round, Fend. Engl. 189-194,
where the Marmion pedigree is set out
with authorities.
•' Cott. MS. Clcop. C. ii, 101 b, 106.
•' Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 248 b ; I'ytch-
ley, Bk. 0/ Fees (North.ints Rec. Soc.)
52 n. The ' Radulpho Ucrlewinc ' may
be for * Radulpho filio Ilerlcwine.*
'" Bucclcuch Deeds, A. 40, 41, 46,
D. 17, G. 8.
" Ibid. F. 10, G. 1 ; Cott. MS. \'esp.
F. xxi, f. 30 b.
•• Pyfchley, op. cit. 157.
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
POLEBROOK
sisters." From these sisters it passed to William de
Carlton,^'^ possibly a husband or son of one of them,
who was holding in 1346.^' William Carlyll was
described as of Polebrook in I36l*'' and 1367,^* and
he and his wife Margaret were dealing with land there
in 1397.^" Possibly it was his son, William Carlyll,
who did homage to the abbot for lands in Polebrook
in 1401,-'' and was in possession of lands there, held
by knight service, in 1428.''' William Carlyll of Pole-
brook son of William Carlyll conveyed lands in Pole-
brook to William son of William Armston.'*
The descent of ihis holding after this date is uncer-
tain, it seems to have been acquired by the overlords
the abbots of Peterborough, and came to the Crown
at the Dissolution of that monastery in 1539. It was
granted together with the holdings of Robert le
Fleming, Thomas Smert, the Porthors and the
Grendons as the manor of Polebrook late of Peter-
borough monastery in 1542 to the Dean and Chapter
of Peterborough,'" but was afterwards resumed and
leased to Sir Edward Montagu.*' Another grant
was made in 1548 to Sir William Sharington,'- who
within a few days obtained licence to alienate the
property to Sir Edward Montagu.*' From that time
until 1910 Polebrook manor has followed the descent
of Barnwell St. Andrew {q.v.), but was not sold with
that manor in 191 3 and still belongs to the Duke of
Buccleuch.
In 1086 Eustace the Sheriff was tenant in chief
in Polebrook of a hide and a virgate which had for-
merly been held freely by Ormar.** This fee, which
had come into the possession of Robert de Cauz in
the 1 2th century,*^ seems to be the manor of Pole-
brook which in 1455 was declared to be held of
Walter Norton in socage.** It was parcel of the
Duchy of Lancaster in 1610,*' and parts of it were
held of the King in 1615 and 1623.**
In 1236, three parts of a knight's fee in Polebrook,
Thurning and Clapton, were held by Robert le
Fleming of William Patrick, tenant of part of the
Lovetot fee.** This part of the King's fee in Pole-
brook may have come into the possession of Peter-
borough Abbey with the rest of the Fleming manor.
In 1207 Ralph son of Reginald de Polebrook
acquired a virgate in Polebrook from Walter son of
Agnes, widow of Robert.'" In 1229 Ralph petitioned
for leave to divert a way in Polebrook." Three
years later the Bishop of Lincoln granted him per-
mission to have a chapel with a chantry in his court of
Polebrook.'^ William son of Ralph de Polebrook
witnessed the deeds relating to Hemington of the
middle of the 13th century,'^ but no later record of
his tenement seems to be extant.
Certain messuages and lands in Polebrook of which
the reversion was granted to the Abbot of Peter-
borough by Richard de Outheby in 1339,''' must be
assumed to have been part of the King's fee. The
rest, as the manor of Polebrook, had come into the
possession of the Lovels of Tichmnrsh before 1455,
when William Lovel ' chivalcr,' Lord Lovel of Tich-
marsh, died seised of the reversion of the manor, John
Greyby being life tenant.''' Lord Lovel settled
Polebrook on his younger son, Robert,'* whose widow,
Eleanor, was accused of illegal treatment of his former
tenants here." In 1466, Eleanor, with her second
husband, Thomas Prount, claimed Polebrook and
other manors as jointure.'" John, Lord Lovel, her
first husband's elder brother, had died in 1465,
leaving a son, Francis, who was attainted, and died
without issue in 1487." His manor of Polebrook
was granted in 1491 to John Moton,'" after whose
death in 1492 it was acquired by George Kirkham,
who left it by will, dated March, 1527-28, to his son
Sir Robert Kirkham, and his wife Sibill.*' Messuages
and lands in Polebrook were in the possession of
Sir Robert and his wife, Richard and Katherine
Pallady, and Thomas Henson in 1547,'- but at the
beginning of the ne.\t century the manor belonged to
the Crown as parcel of the possessions of the Duchy
of Lancaster.®' Messuages and lands which seem
to have formed part of it were held of the King in
chief in 1615, 1623 and 1634,"^ but about the middle
of the I7fh century it was conveyed by William Raby
and his wife, Katherine, Thomas Roborne, and Richard
Goodman and his wife, Joan, to Thomas Andrew,®^
possibly the Thomas Andrew, senior, who held it
with Thomas Andrew, junior, in 168 1."* Later
owners were John Buxton and his wife, Ehzabeth,
and Lawford Watts and his wife, Sara, from whom a
moiety of the manor passed to Thomas Goodfellow
in 1694."' Both moieties were in 1774 the property
of Mary Goodfellow, widow, and Catherine Good-
fellow,"® the latter of whom was presumably the
spinster of that name who owned land in Polebrook
in 1790."'
Domesday Book accounts for 5 hides of land in
JRMSTON (Mermeston xi cent., Armeston xii cent.,
Ermeston, Armston xiii cent., Armenston, Armis-
torem, Armyston xiv cent.) and Kingsthorpe belong-
ing to the Abbey of Peterborough.*' In the reign of
" Pytchley, op. citu 52.
" Ibid.
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 415.
" Buccleuch Deeds, K. 6.
" Col. Close, 1364-8, p. 374.
»• Buccleuch Deeds, I. 8a, K.8.
•' .\dd. MS. 25288.
" Feud. Aids, iv. 48 ; Buccleuch
Deeds, K. 9.
" Ibid. I. 8a.
"Pat. R. 33 lien. V1!I, pt. 3,
*' Gunton, op. cit. 66.
•• Pat. R. 2 Edw. VI, pt. 4, m. 14.
" Ibid. 2 Edw. VI, pt. 3,
Buccleuch Coll. Ser. Chron. p. 259.
Sir Edward bought out the interests
of the Crown lessees, Ibid. p. 259-74.
'• V.C.H. Nortbants. i, 349 *.
" Ibid. i. 366 b.
•• Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. VI, file 158,
no. 28.
'4-
35;
" Pat. R. 7 Jas. I, pt. 35, m. 6.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii) cccxlviii,
122 ; ccccxv, III.
" Book of Fees, i, 580.
'" Feet of F. Northants. case 171,
file 12, no. 202.
" Close R. 39, m. 16.
" Roi. Hug. de yVelles (Cant, and York
Soc.) ii, 255-56.
" Buccleuch Deeds, A. 12, 30, R. 43,
G. 4.
"Inq. a. q. d. file 251, no. 5; Cal.
Pal. 133S-40, pp. 249-50.
" Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. i) file 199,
no. 2.
" Early Chan. Proc. bdlc. 31, no. 254.
" Chan. Proc. Eliz. (Rec. Com.) ii,
p. Ixix.
" Early Chan. Proc. bdlc. 31, no.
254.
'• Complete Peerage v, 164-65.
"> Pat. R. 6 Hen. \'II, m. 13 ; Cal Pat.
i.|S5-94, p. 406.
" Coll. Top. ct Gen. vol. v, cli. 24,
p. 307.
»' I'eet of F. N'ortliants. E;ist. 37 Hen.
VIII.
'" Duchy of L.'inc. Spec. Com. 633.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii) cccxlviii,
122; cccctviii; Dcxxxi, 8.
" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 22
Chas. I. In 1651, however, the site of
the manor was owned by Nicholas Hunt.
(Feet of F. Northants. East. 1651 ; Recov.
R. East. 1651, ro. 15.)
•* Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 22 Chas.
II.
" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 4 and
I!il. 6 Will, and Mary.
" Ibid. Trin. 14 Geo. III.
" Private Act 30 Geo. Ill, cap. 26.
" y.C.H. Xonhanis. i, 315*.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Henry I, however, Armston alone is described as
extending over more than 5 hides, the whole still
forming part of the Peterborough fee,"- and this
overlordship continued until the 15th century.
The five knights, tenants of Peterborough Abbey
in io86,'2 were followed by five others in the next
century.'^ One of these knights was probably
Geoffrey of Winchester, who held 3 virgates in
Burghley of the Abbot.^^ Geoffrey's fees went to
William de Burghley, who claimed to be hereditary
reeve of the abbot's liberty of Stamford, and is men-
tioned in 1 1 16 and lliS.*'' He was succeeded by
Roger de Burghley, who surrendered the office of
reeve of Stamford, and was living in 1143-4.'^ The
next holder apparently was William de Burghley,
who was holding in 1189 and by 1212 had been
succeeded by a third William, who was holding two
fees in Burghley and Armston in 1227.^' Probably a
fourth William was holding in 1254 and 1260,^' and
was succeeded by his son, Roger, who died in 1280.*'
Roger was followed by Thomas de Burghley ,1 and he
by Geoffrey de Burghley, who did homage to the
abbot in 1322 and 1327 for his fee in Armston.-
Geoffrev, by his wife Mariota, had a son Peter.' In
1346, Mariota, widow of Geoffrey, is mentioned as
holding a fee in Burghley,"" and in 1428 she is named
as a former tenant of the fee of the abbot of Peter-
borough in Armston, then held by Gerveys Wykes.^
Another mesne lordship here, possibly over the
same lands, belonged to Reginald de Grey in 1256,
who settled on John de Grey a knight's fee in Armston
inherited from his mother, Emma.* His successor,
Reginald de Grey, in 1295
held of the Burghley heirs,'
and Richard de Syward was
his sub-tenant.' Below Syward
again came James Byron.
Richard Byron, probably
James's great nephew and
heir,' complained in 1308 that
the prior of the Hospital of
Armston and others had be-
sieged him in his manor house
for two days and assaulted
him in the High Street of
Armston.^" Sir James Byron was dealing with lands in
Kingsthorp and Armston in the middle of the 14th
century,'! anj John Byron was holding lands there
in 1364.!^ A small property in Armston, held of
John Byron by Sir John Knyvet of Winwick, Hunts,
who died in 1381,'' seems to have been part of this
Byron manor which was included in a settlement
made in 1441 on Sir Robert Booth and others by
BvRoN. Argent three
bastons gules.
•' y.C.H. Norihanls. i, 366A.
" Ibid.
" Ibid.
•*lbid. 315 a; Pytchlcy, Bk. of Fees
(Northanu Rec. Soc.) 88 n.
•• Ibid. 88 n.
•• Ibid. 88, 88 n.
•' Ibid. 88 n, 89 n ; Cal. Chart. R.
1226-57, p. 20.
•• Pytchlcy, op. cit. 88, 89 n ; Egerton
MS. 2733, f. 128 b.
" Pytchlcy, Bk. of Fees, 89 n.
' Ibid.
• Cott. MS. Vcipaiian E xxi, i. 41,
78 b. 81.
• Pytchlcy, op. cit. 88, 89 n.
• Ibid.
* Frud. Aids, iv, 47.
* Feet of F. Div. Cos. case 283, file 14,
no. 318.
' Intj. .T.q.d. file 24, no. i8. • Ibid.
* Thoroton, Hist. Nolls, ii, 2S5.
"Cal. Pal. 1307-13, p. 168, Rich.ird's
•on, J.ime», must be the J.imes Byron
mentioned in the return of 1428, and the
Abbey's former ten.int in Armston.
{Feud. Aids, iv, 47.)
" Bucclcuch Deeds, A. 69, F. 42.
"Ibid. G. 25.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. Ric. II, file 15,
no. 32.
" Feet of F. Div. Cos. case 293, file
70, no. 253.
" Fts. of Now. (Harl. Soc. iv), 9.
104
Sir John Byron of Clayton and his wife Margery,**
daughter of John Booth of Barton, Lancashire.'^
Bridges identifies the carucate possessed by James
Byron in 1295 with lands called from their owner
' Buren's thing.' These lands were settled in 1463
by William Aldvvincle, lord of Ticlimarsh manor in
Aldwincle, on his wife, Elizabeth, who, with her
second husband, William Chamber, granted them in
1489 to the chantry they had founded in the church
of Aldvvincle.'* The manor of Armston belonging to
this chantry was sold to Sir Edward Montagu in
1547," and descended from that time with Barnwell
St. Andrew (q.v.),but was not sold in 191 3 and is still
in the possession of the Duke of Buccleuch.
Another of the five Peterborough tenants in
Armston, in the reign of Henry I, was Guy Maufe,
who held a hide of the Abbey land.'* Some part of
his fee seems to have been included in Hervey de
Borham's grant to Thorney Abbey, of the manor of
Kingsthorpe (q.v.), and was held by this house in
1291." As lands in Armston of the late Abbey of
Thorney, then occupied by John Robery, they were
acquired by Sir Edward Montagu, with the manor of
Luddington (q.v.), in 1544.
From the first half of the 12th century the history of
the rest of t!:e Peterborough lands in Armston, held by
Turkil, by Geoffrey de Gunthorpe, and by Tedrick,^*
is obscure. Geoffrey may have been ancestor of the
Geoffrey of Southorpe who did homage to the Abbot
for lands in Armston in 1275,^' but no later mention
of the tenure of this family occurs, and it can only
be supposed that all three holdings were eventually
united in the manor of Armston, in Armston, and
that the nucleus of it may have been the lands held
by a family who bore the name of the hamlet.
These lands were originally held apparenily by
Gudold the Beadle, whose lands were confirmed to
Peterborough Abbey by Henry I.-^ Philip de Armston
paid lid. towards an aid at the close of the 12th
century, and held land in Armston by the service
of •[\ of a knight's fee payable to the chamber of the
Abbot.2' It was probably the same Philip who was
holding of the Honour of Peterborough in 1211-12,2*
and with his son Reginald witnessed a charter of Abbot
Robert de Lindsey (1214-22). ^^ Philip also had a son
Bartholomew, whose son Geoffrey,^® with Stephen de
Winwick, held J of a fee in 1 254.2^ The descent at
this date becomes uncertain. A John de Armston,
probably a brother or son of Geoffrey, had a son
Robert, who took the name of Berncwcll,-' and a
daughter Isabel, who had a son John.-" John de
Armston seems also to have had a son ' John de
Armston, called Despenser,''" whose name frequently
*• Bridges, op. cit. ii, 211.
" Pat. 38 Hen. VIII, pt. 7, ni. 36.
•• r.C.H. Northaiits. i. 366*.
'» Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 55 b.
" V.C.H. Norihanls. ii, 366*.
" Soc. Aniiq. MS. 60, 159/1.
" Pytchlcy, Bk. of Fees (Northanti
Rec. Soc), 136 n. This land may have
been held later byTuricor Teduck. Ibid.
» Ibid.
» Red. Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls Scr.),
ii, 619.
'• Pytchlcy, loc. cit.
■" Bucclcuch Deeds, A, 31, D. 11.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 249.
" Buccleuch Deeds, A. 15, F. 3.
" Ibid. F. 3. "Ibid. K. 3.
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
POLEBROOK
occurs in the Buccleuch Deeds of the last quarter
of the 13th century as John le Despenser, or Spenser,
of Armston.'i He had by his wife M.ibel three sons,
John le Despencer, Geoffrey, and Walter.^- Of these,
John had three sons, Philip le Spenser, by whom he
was succeeded in I3I4,''^ David le Spenser,-''' and
John le Spenser, chaplain,^* who together held a
part of Philip de Armston's {3 of " knight's fee in
Armston'* ; Geoffrey had by his wife Sarah" a son,
John le Spenser, who was holding in the middle of the
14th century.
Another tenement in Armston was held by Ralph
de Trublcvill, sheriflF of Northamptonshire in 1223,
whose name appears here as early as 1202.'* His
wife was Alice, who seems to have been an heiress.^"
In 1224 he received timber from the King's wood
of VVrikes towards the repair of his house at Armston,'"
and in 1 232 he and his wife built the Hospital of St.
John the Baptist of Armston on their land," and
Alice presented the first master.''- The fee later went
to Geoffrey, brother of Berengar le Moyne of Barn-
well St. Andrew, and he presented a master to the
hospital in 1274.''* Two years later Geoffrey claimed
view of frankpledge and assize of bread and ale.''''
He was succeeded by his son Reginald,''* who pre-
sented a master in 1298'* and in 1302. His wife's
name was Divorgilla.*' John Moyne presented in
1353,'" and with his wife Cecily settled the manor
and advowson of the Hospital possibly in favour
of William Peytevj'n of Armston, who had letters
of protection for the King's service in Ireland in
1363.''* In 1381 he presented to the Hospital,^* and
in 1393-4 William with his wife Joan conveyed lands
in Armston and Kingsthorpe and the advowson
of the Hospital, all of Joan's inheritance, to William
Armston,"^ whose wife Joan was possibly the daughter
of William Peytevyn. William Armston claimed to
be patron when a new constitution was given to
the Hospital in 1397,*^ and he and his wife were
alive in 1428.*^ He was succeeded by his son William,
who married Maud and presented to the Hospital
in 1430.*'' He was succeeded by another William
Armston, whose widow Ellen was in 1500 the wife of
Robert Halley.** Thomas, son of the last-named
William Armston, inherited his father's estate and
was living in 1535.** A petition was presented by
Thomas Armston against Richard Compton, master of
the Hospital, for neglect of his duties in not praying
for the souls of the founders nor saying divine service
in the chapel of the Hospital for the benefit of the
inhabitants living at a distance from tlie parish
clurch.^'
Thomas was succeeded by his half-brother, William
Armston, who was dead by 1540,*' when the in-
heritance was disputed under various settlements.
The claimants were Thomas Henson, son of Elizabeth,
sister of the last-named William Armston, who is
said to have married John Henson ; Katherine,
daughter of Guy, son of the elder William Armston
by his third wife, which Katherine was then liiewife
of Richard Pallady, and was said to be illegitimate ;
and Sir Robert Kirkham, son of Anne, sister of Guy,
who had married George Kirkham.^* The matter
was compromised, and the disputants joined, about
1545, in conveying the estate to John I.anc,^'' by
whom it was sold in 1548 to Sir Edward Montagu.**
The Hospital was dissolved by Sir Robert Kirkham
in 1536, and sold to Sir Edward Montagu.*- The
Crown, however, granted it in 1548 to Sir William
Sharington, who conveyed his title to Sir Edward
Montagu. Probably on account of Sharington's
attainder it was granted by the Crown in 1588 to
Edward Wymark.'^ The Montagus seem to have
come to terms with Wymark and retained possession,
and the lands of the Hospital remained part of the
Manor of Armston, which descended with Barnwell
St. Andrew** until 1913, when it continued in the
possession of the Duke of Buccleuch.
A family of Porthors of Armston held lands there
in the 13th century.** Andrew Porthors had a son
John, who with his wife Rose was living about
1270.** They had a son John and a daughter Alice,
who married John de Milton,*' living in 1305.*'
One hide and a virgate of land in Kingsthorpe
(Chingestorp, xi cent. ; Kyngesthorp, xii cent. ;
Kynestorp, xiii cent.) belonged to the fee of Peter-
borough*^ from the 12th to the 15th century.'" The
Abbot of Peterborough's lands here were partly of the
fee of Maufe and partly of the fee of Lovetot.'i The
mesne lordships followed the descents of Woodford
and Clapton respectively (q-v.)- Walter de Lodinton,
the abbot's immediate tenant in the reign of Henry I,'^
may have been the predecessor of the one or other,
or of both. Robert Maufe gave lands here to the abbot
" Buccleuch Deeds, A. 7, A. 46, D. 10,
22, 23, F. I, 2, 4, 23, 24.
" Ibid. F. 34, 41 ; Cbmn. Petrob. 23.
" Ibid.
•* Buccleuch Deeds, A. 121, G. 23.
•• Ibid. F. 42, 43, G. 17, 23.
•• Pytchley, loc. cit.
•' Buccleuch Deeds, F. 10, 41.
"List of Sberifs, 92; Plac. Abbrev.
(Rec. Com.), 41.
" She was possibly Alice de Polebrock,
who held lands in Kingsthorp at this
time (Buccleuch Deeds, G. 2, 4).
" Close R. 28, m. 3.
" Anct. D. C. 31 19; Rot. Hug. ie
Wellfs (Cant, and York. Soc), ii, 255-6.
" Ibid. 164. In 1269 Walter de Vernon
gave 5 marks for prayers for the soul of
Margaret de Pomeray (Buccleuch Deeds,
D. 25).
" Ibid. H. 30, 34 i Rot. Rich, de Graves-
tnd (Cant, and York. Soc), 122.
'* R<it. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 8.
*• Buccleuch Deeds, F. 23. CtoRttj't
widow Lucy was dealing with lands in
Armston about 1280. Ibid. F. 24.
*• Bridges, op. cit. ii, 419.
*' Buccleuch Deeds, F. 23.
*' Bridges, loc. cit.
" Feet of F. Northants. case 177,
file 81, no. 494; Cal. Pat. 1361-4,
p. 428.
'" Bridges, loc. cit.
" Feet of F. Northants, case 178,
file 88, no. 144.
" Buccleuch Deeds, F. 44.
" Feud. Atds, iv, 48.
" Bridges, loc. cit.
•• Buccleuch Deeds, I. 6, 6 a.
" Bridges, loc. cit.
•' Buccleuch Deeds, D. 36.
" Ct. of Req. bdle 6, no. 133 ; bdle 7,
no. 120.
"Bridges, ii, 417-20; according to
the Visitation of 1564, Anne was the
daughter of Thomas Armston. (Met-
calfe, Visit, of Northants, p .30 ; Ct. of Req.
bdle 6, no. 133 ; bdle 7, no. 120).
" Feet of F. Northants. Hen. VIII,
case 32, file 218.
■* Bridges, loc. cit.
" Chantry. Cert. Northants xxxv, no.
44 ; xxxvi, no. 33.
" Pat. R. 30 Eliz. pt. 7, m. 6.
•• Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 9 Chas. I ;
Mich. 1658; ibid. Northants. East. 33
Geo. II i 16 Geo. Ill; Recov. R. Trin.
9 Chas. I, m. 40 ; Hil. 3 Anne, m. 223 ;
East. 33 Geo. II, m. 162 ; 9 Geo. IV, m.
122.
" Buccleuch Deeds, D. 9, G. 4.
" Ibid. D. 7, 10, F. 3, 12, 21, G. 4, K. 4.
" Ibid. F. 23. •• Ibid. H. 47, 48.
•• V.C.H. Northants. i, 367.
" Cott. MS. Vesp. E xxi, fol. 30 b ;
Cleop. C ii, fols. 104 b, 743 b ; Feet of
F. Northants. case 174, file 50, no. 902 ;
Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 8 ; Feud.
Aids, iv, 48, 51.
" Pytchley, Bk. of Fees (Northants
Rec. Soc), 56, 90.
" V.C.H. Northants. i, 367a.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
of Thorney,'^ and in 1346 the abbot of Thorney
and Roger Hurst held half a knight's fee in Kings-
thorpe and Remington of the two fees which William
Maufe formerly held of Peterborough.'* In 1270
probably the Lovetots' manor of Kingsthorpe was
held by Alan de Chartres in right of his wife Joan.
They granted it to Hervey de Borham, Archdeacon of
Salop,'* who in 1256 conveyed it with lands in Heming-
ton and Armston to the abbot of Thorney." It seems
that Thorney Abbey acquired the lands of both fees
which it held through several mesne lords of the
abbot of Peterborough.
In 1540 messuages and over loo acres in Kings-
thorpe vrith land in Remington and Luddington,
and in 1544 a small property in Armston and Kings-
thorpe, all belonging to the late monastery of Thorney,
ScALK OF Feet
Plan of Polebrook Church
were granted to Sir Edward Montagu."' Togetiier
they seem to have made up the Montagu manor of
Kingsthorpe which followed the descent of Barnwell
St. Andrew.
The Church of ALL SAINTS con-
CHURCH sists of chancel 29 ft. 8 in. by 15 ft.,
clearstoried nave 45 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft.,
with north and south aisles and porches, north and
south transeptal chapels, and tower 9 ft. 8 in. square,
surmounted by a spire at the west end of the south
aisle. All the above measurements are internal.
The whole of the building is faced with rubble, and
has plain parapets throughout. The roofs of the
aisles and chapels are leaded, while the nave is covered
with small grey slates and the chancel with blue
slates. All the walls are plastered internally.
The church seems to have consisted at first of a
chancel and nave with an ' axial ' tower between
them, as at Barton Seagrave. Late in the 12th cen'.ury
the north aisle was added to the nave, and a transeptal
chapel constructed on this side, for which an arch
was maae in the north wall of the tower. The chancel
arch, if not the whole chancel, was also rebuilt.
The present aisle and chapel, however, belong to the
next century, and are part of a general reconstruction
and enlargement, possibly when the church was
granted in 1232 by Robert le Fleming to Peterborough
Abbey. This reconstruction included a lengthened
chancel and the entire rebuilding of the west wall
of the church, which was continued southward as the.
base of a tower which was now added. East of the
tower a south aisle was built, opening into the nave
by an arcade of two bays. During the 14th century
a small transeptal chapel was added on the south
side. The nave clearstory was added
later, when the roof was flattened.
The church was restored in 1S43.
The chancel retains in the south
wall, towards the west end, a plain
priest's doorway with a round arch,
now blocked externally, which seems
to belong to the earlier and shorter
chancel. The south wall is lighted by
three lancets with internal splays.
These break the external string-course,
and appear to have been altered after
their first making. The westernmost
was lengthened downwards into a
low-side opening, partly blocked, the
lower part of which, beneath a tran-
som, was rebated for a shutter opening
outwards. In the east wall is a group
of three lancets, the middle one being
higher than the others, and all being
treated very plainly on the outside,
with separate labels. The east part of
the north wall was covered by a vestry,
some traces of which remain in the
walls of the modern vestry on the site.
West of this are two lancets. That
on the east is shorter than those in
the opposite wall, and was left un-
altered when they were lengthened.
The western has a low-side extension like that of
the window opposite, also partly blocked. The chancel
is without buttresses and the parapets are carried on
13th century corbel tables with grotesque heads. At
the south-east angle are three scratch dials."
The north chapel, which measures internally
32 ft. by 17 ft. 6 in., is a remarkable feature in the
plan, being actually longer and wider than the chancel.
It has a plain string-course carried round it, which is
lowered on the north wall. In the east wall there are
two two-light openings with flowing tracery, inserted
in the 14th century. Tlierc is a modern four-light
window, with a four-centred head, in the north wall.
An original lancet remains in the west wall. The
gable cross is of the 13th century," to which date also
the cross above the east window of the church seems to
belong. The parapets of the chapel are on corbel
tables, with masks which, except five, arc plain.
12U Cent, earlv
C.1I80-90
131 Century
I liU CilNTURY
D .\ ioDERN
" Pytchlty, op. cit. (io n.
" Bridget, op. cit. ii, 420.
" Feet of F. Northanti. ca»e 174,
file 41), no. 895, Chjrt. R. 135, m. 26.
'• Feet o( F. Northanti. caie 174,
file 50, no. 1)02 j Biircleuch Deeds, A. 26,
C. 7.
"• Pat. R. 31 Hen. VIII, pt. 6, m. 31,
32 ; 36 Hen. VIII, pt. 6, m. I ; Chart. R.
135, m. 26.
106
" The peg hole of one is 12 in. from
the .ingle, and of the others 12 in. and
2 ft. 8 in.
" The gable itself has been rebuilt.
w
u
o
Oh
<
OS ^
2 H
a: U
■^ O
I-H
u
o
^tH
' 111*.
X
---*•
j te?»2:^-.-'4 i4kj^,:^*i. _ I
\
■^.
I'oLtBRooK Church i rom ihl West
I'oi.iuRooK CiRRtii : W.M.I. Arcadi: or Norih (.'haimi
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
POLEBROOK.
There are no windows in the wall of the north
aisle, which is of one build with the adjoining wall
of the transept. Towards the east end there is a plain
pointed doorway witli plain hood. This is covered by
a large porch with a fine outer archway of two orders
with shafted jambs. The arch is elaborately moulded
with deep hollows between the rolls, the shafts have
capitals with conventional foliage, dog-tooth is freely
used, and grotesque figure-sculpture is introduced
into the ornament. At the north-west corner of the
aisle is a diagonal buttress, and the west window
is of two lights, inserted about 1300.
There is a 13th-century buttress at the junction
of the aisle with the west wall of the nave, which is
of the same build. There is no west doorway, and the
four-light west window has been much modernised,
themullionsand tracery being new. The gable has been
rebuilt. As already noted, the west wall is continued
southward, with a slight thickening, as the base of the
tower, the point of departure being concealed by a
buttress set diagonally. This, with the corresponding
buttresses at the south-west and south-east angles
of the tower, are apparently part of the original
design, and if so, are a very early and unusual example
of the use of this plan of buttress. The tower has a
round-headed west window with a wide internal splay,
and a small blocked window in the south wall. In
each face of the belfry stage is a two-light window
with mid-shaft and double-shafted jambs, and the
whole is finished with a broach-spire. The spire has
plain angles and three sets of spire lights.
The short length of aisle wall between the tower
and south chapel is almost covered by an early
13th-century porch, which has a plain doorway
with clustered jamb-shafts, much weathered, and a
deep hood-mould with a fleur-de-lys at the apex.
On the gable of the porch is a curious coped stone.
The doorway inside the porch is round-headed with
a roll-moulding, and is probably the south doorway
of the earlier church rebuilt in this position.
The south chapel was built in the 14th century,
and is narrower and much shorter than the north
chapel. There is a three-light window in the south
wall with modern tracery," and a square-headed
window of two lights in the east wall. North of this
the junction with the 13th-century east wall of the
south aisle is clear, but the string-course which is
carried round the chapel is continuous with the earlier
work, and has evidently been re-used. There is a
lancet in the east wall of the aisle.
Internally, the irregularity of design is very notice-
able, owing to the want of correspondence between
the spacing of the north and south arcades. This is
due to the unusual position of the tower, and to the
fact that the two bays of the north arcade are west
of the piece of wall which marks the north-west angle
of the earlier tower between nave and chancel, while
on the south the corresponding piece of wall was
removed, and the arcade of two bays carried to the
east end of the nave. The north arcade, the arch
opening from the old tower-space into the north
chapel, and the chancel arch are all of one date, about
1180-90. The arches are round-headed, with two
chamfers and end-stops. The responds of tlic chancel
and chapel arches and that at the west end of the
arcade have capitals of cruciform pattern with broad
waterleaf ornament, the tips of the leaves finishing of?
in crockets. The east respond and the pier of the
arcade have handsome voluted capitals with foliated
angle-crockets. The pier and responds are circular
and slender in diameter. The bases of the pier and
the chancel responds have claw-corners, left plain.
Some of the foliage of the capitals has been left
uncarved.
On the south side of the nave the tower, occupying
the western part of the south aisle, was built before
the rest of the aisle and was probably begun shortly
after the first additions upon the north side. It
opens into the nave by an arch with three chamfered
orders and half round responds with moulded capitals
and bases. A similar low arch communicates in the
east wall with the south aisle; above this arch is the
line of a former steep pitched aisle roof. As already
noted, there is a splayed window with a round-headed
arch in the west wall.
The arcade between the nave and the south aisle is
of the early part of the 13th century. There are two
lofty round-headed arches,*" of two chamfered orders
and the capitals of the responds and dividing pier
are carved with a variety of foliage, that of the pier
having very thick stalks, while the foliage of the west
respond is arranged in wind-blown fashion. The
bases of the piers have thin and rather shallow
water-moulds.
The north chapel is entirely of the 13th century,
the earlier chapel having probably been much shorter.
Belowthe windows in the east wall runs a roll-and-fiUet
string-course, which is lifted below the northernmost
window to give room for the retable of an altar, but
has been broken and badly rejoined at the south end
of the heightened piece. It is continued along the
north wall, near the east end of which it is again lifted
for a large rectangular aumbry with rebated edge.
West of this in the north wall are three elaborately
moulded pointed arches, set on a bench-table, and
springing from slender single shafts.*' The heads
of the stones which join the capitals to the wall at the
back are carved at the ends with dog-tooth pattern,
and at the joining of the inner mouldings there are
fine sculptured bosses. The bosses at the ends of
the hood-moulds are carved with (west) a mitred
head, (centre) an elaborate floriated cross, beneath
which is a somewhat similar cross, and (cast) conven-
tional foliage. Against the west wall of the chapel is
a similar arcade of six arches upon a lower bench-table.
The two rows of arches seem to have been built
independently of one another and then roughly
joined. The heads at the ends of the hoods in the
western row have gone for the most part, but one
remains with stiffly carved hair. At the intersection
of the arches is trefoiled foliage of various patterns.
The arch between the chapel and the north aisle
springs on the north side from a corbel with three
detached shafts.
'• The original window had jutcrKCting
miillions. Mary Montagu in 1524 di-
rected that her body should be buried in
the aisle before Our Lady of Pity which
it on the south side of the church. (Pro-
bate of Xorthampton, B. 169.)
" The height to the springing of the
arches is 13 ft. 6 in., on the north side it
is 9 ft. 9 in.
107
" The shafts are restorations. Bridges,
early in the 18th century, says the arches
were ' supported formerly by small
columns, which are now taten away.'
Hitl. of Northanti. ii, 416.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
The windows of this chapel have been noted. The
lancet in the west wall has a wide splay. Of the
two 14th-century windows in the east wall, the
northern has been inserted in an arch of the 13th
century, which probably marks the inner opening of
a splayed lancet. At the back of the respond at the
south-east corner of the chapel there is a small
rectangular hollow.
The south chapel, as already stated, is much smaUer*-
and is altogether of later work. Internally, however,
a large, thick string-course which runs beneath the
lancet at the east end of the south aisle is continued
along the east waD of the chapel, and evidently, as on
the outside, the builders took pains to conceal their
additions. The string is not continued along the
south wall, in which there is a double piscina with
two lancet openings, the heads of which are cut in a
Untel, and which are separated by a small sturdy
shaft. The bowls are circular, with drain-holes.
The tracery of the east window of this chapel is
formed of two trefoils with rounded ends, the heads
of which are carved out of one stone. A squint is cut
through the east respond of the south arcade. At
the south-east angle outside is an incised di.il.
The chancel, except the arch, is almost entirely
of the 13th century, with a string-course similar
to that in the north chapel. The three eastern
lancets have rich mouldings and clusters of detached
shafts in the jambs. North of the altar is a rectangular
aumbry*^ and the adjoining vestry doorway has a head
cut in a lintel. In the south wall, in addition to the
windows already described, there is a beautiful double
piscina with much delicately carved dog-tooth
ornament and a hood-moulding stopped by masks
and a floral boss similar to those which end the hood
of the vestry doorway and are found in the arcading
of the north chapel. In the spandrel beneath the
arch of the piscina is a sunk quatrefoil. Both bowls
are fluted.
The examination of all this work shows that the
chancel, the north chapel, and the outer walls of the
north aisle with the porch belong to one period of
building, which followed the addition of the south
aisle. It was probably intended to build a south
chapel similar to that on the north, but the work
was stopped, and the south chapel, when it was built,
had no relation to the former plan.
There is a 15th century traceried rood-screen, with
some remains of colour on the panels. Some traces
of colour are also left upon the soffit and capitals of
the arch which opens into the north chapel. The
chancel has a 15th century roof of three bays, with
well-moulded tie-beams. The roofs of the nave,
aisles and chapels are largely new, but there are some
carved bosses in the nave roof, one of which has the
shield of the abbey of Peterborough.
The octagonal font is of the later part of the 13th
century wnth trefoiled panels, circular pedestal, and
shafts with moulded capitals and bases supporting
the bowl. The oak pulpit is plain work of the 17th
century, with fluted upper panels, on a modern stone
base : attached to the adjoining wall is an hour-glass
stand There is some 17th century seating in the
south chapel, and two chairs of the same period in the
chancel given by Gen. Ferguson.
The organ, given in 1909 by Sophia Lady Paston-
Cooper, is in a loft over the chancel arch. In the
chancel are tablets to Joseph Johnston, rector (d.
1719), and Capt. John Orme (d. 1764), and in the
north chapel one to Charles Euseby Isham (d. 1862),
who was rector for nearly sixty-two years.
There is a ring of five bells. The treble is dated
1717 and the tenor is by Joseph Eayre, of St. Neots,
1765, who also cast the fourth in 1771. The second is
inscribed " fAndrea," and is by Thomas Newcombe,
of Leicester (1562-80), while the third, inscribed
" S. Maria " bears a stamp used by Francis Watts, of
Leicester (i564-i6oo).*3
The plate consists of a silver-plated cup, paten and
breadholder, each inscribed ' Parish of Polebrook,
anno Dom. 1811 ' ; a plated cup and flagon given
by Miss Hames in 1879 > ^ silver chalice and flagon
and processional cross were given by Gen. Ferguson ;
a silver almsdish by Lady Paston-Cooper, and two
silver almsbowls by Ivor Ferguson, Esq.
The registers begin in 1655, the first volume con-
taining entries to 1770.
There was a priest on the King's
ADVOWSON fee in Polebrook in io86.8^ The
advowson apparently belonged to
the Clopton family and at the beginning of the 13th
century Rose de Clopton as patron of the church of
Polebrook made an agreement regarding St. Leonards
Chapel at Armston.*^ Her husband Hugh le Fleming,
presented a clerk in the reign of Henry III. The
advowson descended to his son and heir, Robert
le Fleming,*' who granted the church and manor to
the Abbey of Peterborough.*' The claim to the
advowson made by Hugh's great-great-granddaughters
in 1284 was refuted by the production of Robert le
Fleming's charter'* and the church remained in the
possession of the Abbey until its surrender,*' when
the profits of the rectory with tithes, mansion and
glebe amounted to ^^29 14J. a year.^ In 1542
Henry VIII granted the advowson of the rectory
of Polebrook to the Bishop of Peterborough'* but
it was afterwards sold with the manor to Sir William
Sharington and alienated by him to Sir Edward
Montagu (see above). Sir Edward's heirs, however,
did not succeed in establishing their right to the church
though they made some attempt to do so in the 17th
century,'- and it has remained in the gift of the Bishop
of Peterborough to the present day."''
In 1 291 the Prior of Huntingdon enjoyed a portion
of tithes amounting to ^l a year, in the church of
Polebrook and portions of equal value from the church
also belonged to the sacristans of Peterborough and
Croyland and the Prior of St. Neots."'' The Hunting-
don portion amounted to only 1 3;. 4^/. in 1539,'*
when the Croyland portion was described as a certain
•" It projecti beyond the aiile inter-
nally 12 (t.,and ii 13 ft. 6 in. wide. There
ii no separating arch.
" Now covered by panelling.
•• North, Cb. ttrlll of Sorlhanli. 384,
where the inicriptioni are given. There
ii no founder'! name on the treble.
•• y.C.II. Norlbatiii. i, 349*.
" Buccleuch Decdi, F. 26.
" De Banco R. 54 m. 15 d.
" Chron. Pelrob. i 5.
" De Banco R. 54, m. 15 d.
" Cal. Pal. 1361-64, p. 27;
E(el. (Rec. Com.) iv, 293.
" Fahr Ecd. (Rec. Com.) iv, 293.
•' Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. 31, m. 13
108
"Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.
Rep.), i, 214. Ciil. S. P. Dom. 1660-61.
p. llS.
" Inst. Bks, (P.R.O.) ; Cal. S. P. Dom.
Valor 163S-39, p. 56; Bacon, Lib. Rrg. 828.
Private Act 30 Ceo. Ill, cap. 26.
•' Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.) 39 b.
•' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.) iv, 254.
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
THURNING
portion of rent issuing from the church of Polebrook.**
Tlie Croyland tithes were granted in 1562 to Henry
Best and John Holland who conveyed them to Thomas
Eastchurch and Robert Hunt who in 1563 sold them
to Sir Edward Montagu."'^ A pension of 20s. a year
was due from the rectory of Polebrook to Peterborough
Abbey at its dissolution, and was included in the grant
of 1548 to Sir William Sharington (y.f.) as was also
some land in the parish which had belonged to the
Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. Sir Edward
Montagu agreed with the parson of Polebrook in
consideration of the inclosure of Polebrook and in
order to discharge the manor from all tithes proposed,
he would give a portion of the tithes belonging to the
parsonage of Hemington, a pension of 20s. and a lease
of certain tithes in Polebrook belonging to the late
monastery of Croyland.*'
A gild of Corpus Christi in the church of Polebrook
is mentioned in 1518 and 1524.'^
The Rev. Nicholas Latham,
CHARITIES founder of the Hospital at Oundle,
gave £z yearly to be distributed
equally among four poor people. This sum is regu-
larly paid and applied by the Trustees of Parson
Latham's Hospital at Oundle.
The Rev. Charles E. Isham by Declaration of
Trust dated ll February, 1858, declared that the
dividends on a sum of /^loo Consols should be distri-
buted by the Rector equally among six of the most
deserving poor inhabitants who are members and
communicants of the Church of England, first con-
sideration to be given to widows. The distribution
takes place after divine service on Christmas Day.
The Wcslcyan Methodist Chapel comprised in an
Indenture dated 25 July, 1863, is regulated by a
scheme of the Charity Commissioners, and is held on
trusts as expressed in The Wesleyan Chapel Model
Deed.
THURNING
Terning, Torning, 1086 ; Thiringez, Terringes,
Thirning, Thorning (xii cent.) ; Thernynge (xiv
cent.) ; Thurning (xv cent.).
The parish of Thurning was formerly partly in
Northamptonshire and partly in Huntingdonshire
(Leightonstone Hundred), the church being in the
latter county. The boundary went north and south
through the main street. In 1888, however, the whole
was included in Northamptonshire. ^ The area is
1,016 acres, of which about two-thirds are under
permanent grass. The soil is clay, upon which
wheat and barley, beans and peas are grown. The
land rises gradually from north to south, from about
150 ft. to 240 ft. above sea level. The population
was 133 in 1921.
The village lies about l\ miles south-east of Oundle
at the crossing of the roads from Barnwell St. Andrew
to Alconbury, and from Clapton to Luddington in
the Brook. The church stands to the south of the
village. The rectory house, which is to the east of
the church, is a two story building of timber and
plaster, with reed-thatched roof, probably of the late
15th century date, but partly refaced in yellow brick
with single story brick additions. The interior has
been modernised, but the original timber construc-
tion is everywhere visible. It has been the rectory
since the 17th century, to which period the stone
tithe barn on the north side of the house apparently
belongs.
In 1263 Berengar le Moyne obtained a charter for
a weekly market on Wednesday at his manor of
Thurning, and a three days' fair at Michaelmas.^
The grant may not have become effective, for Thur-
ning does not seem later to have been reckoned as a
market town.
Sir William Thirning, a prominent lawyer and
judge of the Common Pleas in the time of Richard II
and Henry IV is supposed to have belonged to this
place, but nothing is definitely known. He took a
prominent part in the deposition of Richard II in
1399, and died in 141 3.'
In Domesday Book (1086) the greater
MANOR part of the land is recorded under
Huntingdonshire. The abbot of Croy-
land held ij hide, with land for a plough and a half ;
the soke was in the King's manor of Alconbury.
Eustace (the sheriff) held it of the abbot. In 1066
the value was 20^., and in 1086 the same. Eustace
held 5 hides in chief, there being land for 5 ploughs ;
the soke, as in the last case, was in Alconbury. The
value alike in 1066 and 1086 was 60/. Alured and
Gozelin held the land of Eustace, and Robert the
Dispenser claimed I virgate and i hide.* In
Northamptonshire there was only J hide, with land
for half a plough ; it belonged to the abbot of Peter-
borough and was appurtenant to Oundle. The
value, 2od. in 1 066, had doubled by 1086, being then
3^. 4i.6_
It is impossible to trace these various estates clearly.
The chief tenant in 1086 was Eustace, the sheriff,
whose fee passed to the Lovetots and followed the
descent of Clapton* {q.v.). Alured's holding went to
the Cloptons of Clapton {q.v.). The holding of
Robert the Dispenser may be represented by the
Marmion fee, as Roger Marmion, according to the
survey of c. 11 25, held 3 small virgates of the fee of
Peterborough.' By the end of the 13th century these
mesne tenancies had all been surrendered to Peter-
borough Abbey.
The sub-tenants of the Lovetot's fee in the 13th
century were Robert, son of Walter de Polebrook,
Berengar le Moyne, Thomas de Hotot, Roger
Beaumes (de Bello Mesuagio)* and Ralph de Grendon.
Of these the holding of Robert, son of Walter de
Polebrook (liung in 1260-2)' appe.irs to have passed
to his son Walter, son of Robert de Polebrook.^' The
•' VaUr Ecd. (Rcc. Com.) iv, 85.
••« Buccleuch Coll. Ser. Chron. 271.
•' Ibid. 269.
" P.C.C. 10 Aylofts ; Prob. of N'orth-
ampt B. 169. ■ Loc Gov. Bd. order.
• Cai. Chart. 1257-1300, p. 46.
• Foi3. yud^fS.
• V.C.H. Hunt!, i, 342A, 350a.
• V.C.H. Northantt. i, 314.
• The long dispute with the Earls of
Gloucester, which included Thurning, is
given under Clapton.
109
' V.C.H. Norihanls. i, 367J ; cl. Round
Feud. Engl. 194-5.
• Pytchley, Bk. of Fefs (Northants
Rec. Soc), 100.
• Buccleuch Deeds A 31, 38, 39.
'"Ibid. G2, K2, 4.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
later descent, however, of this holding has not been
ascertained. The holding of Berengar le Moyne
seems to have been acquired by his ancestor Reginald,
who in the time of Henry II exchanged lands in
Woodwalton (Co. Hunts.) for lands in Thurning,
Thorp and GrafTham.*'- From this date the descent
followed that of Barnwell St. Andrew {q.v.) until the
holding was acquired by the abbot of Peterborough.
The Hotot holding of the Lovetot fee probably
foDowed that of Clapton {q.v.). The descent of
Ralph de Grendon's holding doubtless followed that
of his property in Polebrook (g.v.). His descendant
William Carlyll was in 1428 holding half a fee in
Polebrook and Thurning, formerly held by William
Carleton and others of the Peterborough Fee.i-
In 1316 Thurning was recorded as making one
vill with Winwick, the holders being Walter de Aloles-
Mullysworth's and the advowson of the church of
Thurning. This is recorded in the inquisition after
his death in 1505 ; the heir was his son, the famous
John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's. ^* It became part of
the Knyvet estate in Thurning.
The Beaumes were holding in 1236 when Reginald
de Beaumes was a tenant in Thurning," and in 1263
another Reginald, son and heir of Robert de Beaumes,
paid rehef, his lands being in the King's hands by
reason of the custody of the heir of Richard, Earl of
Gloucester.'* The Beaumes estate appears to have
descended to Thomas Beaumes, who, in 1373, in con-
junction with Katherine his wife, sold to Sir John
KnjTet seven messuages 3J virgates of land, rents
of 21. 6d. and a pair of gloves and five villein tenants.
Thomas and Katherine were, however, to retain it
for life.19
Thurning Rectory
worth, Geoffrey de Beaumes, John de Holme and
John Cardon.'' The estate of the first of these,
which probably represents one of the above holdings,
was, on the death of Walter de Molesworth in 1 318,
divided between his daughters Katherine and Mar-
garet.'* A small part of the estate in Molesworth
was settled on Margaret and the rest in Thurning
and Wold Weston, including the advowson of two
parts of the church of Thurning, was settled on
Katherine and Richard de Bayeux, her husband,
and their issue, with reversion to Margaret.'^ The
other third part would be held by Walter's widow
Katherine. The later descent is not known, but
Sir Henry Colet, of London, purchased from Thomas
Molesworth, probably about 1470, the manor called
Sir John Knyvet acquired much of the Peterborough
property in Thurning, and his family seem eventually
to have obtained all of it.-" In 1380 Sir John held
the manor of Winwick and also held a messuage and
land in Thurning of the abbot of Peterborough by
suit of court.^i Joan (? Kn)Tet) in 1428 held the
third part of a fee in Tliurning.'^ She seems to
have been the widow of John Knyvet the elder, on
whom (in conjunction with his wife) the estate had
been settled for life in 141 1, should Sir Robert Ty
and Margaret, his wife, die without issue, with
remainders to Catlierinc and Elizabeth, daughters of
another John Knyvet. Margaret Ty was no doubt
a sister.-' By 1456 it had come to Edmund Radcliffc,
as son and heir of Elizabeth, wife of Sir John RadcliflFe
" Roi. dt Obi. el Fin. (Rcc. Com), 395
»• Fend. Aidi, iv, 4(1.
'• Ibid, ii, 472.
'* Cal. Inq. vi, no. 166.
" Fctt of K. Hiintt.
caic 93, flic 2J.
" Chan. Inq. p. m. (Ser
" Bk.ofFeei,H,<)iy
12 Edw. II,
ii), xix 28.
*' F.xcerpia e Rot. Fin. ii, 400.
'• Feet of F. Ilunti. llil. 47 F,d\v. III.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (nt.
no8.), file 230, no. 62. See ttUo Exch.
Inq. p.m. fSrr. i), liii, 2 (for Hugh Earl
of Stafford, 1387) and Ch.Tn. Inq. p.m.
4 Hen. IV, file 39, no. 41 (for Edmund
Earl of Stafford, 1403).
I 10
•' Ch.TH. Inq. p.m. 4 Ric. II, file 15,
no. 32. For the pedigree, ace Klomeficld,
NorJ.\,l7<); v. 153.
" Frud. Aids, ii, 474. Slie is called
Thyrninp in the print.
" Add. Chart. 7567, 7575, 7578 ;
Hridgcs, //m/. Northanti. ii, 420.
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
THURNING
Azure six
of Chadderton, in Lancashire,^* but twenty years
later had reverted to the heir-at-law, Sir William
Knyvet, who mortgaged and sold various estates,
including his lands in Thurning, to Sir Henry Colet,
of London, in 1472-7.^'' The
sale was confirmed by fine in
1478, the estate being de-
scribed as the manor of
Thurning, etc.^* Sir Henry
had married Christian Knyvet,
a kinswoman of the vendor.
He purchased other estates
in Thurning, as will be seen
below.
On Sir Henry's death in
1505, the manors and estates
descended to his son and heir
Dean Colet, who died in 1519, and by liis will left
his estate to his mother for her life, for division after
her death. The manor of Thurning, with other manors
and lands purchased from Sir William Knyvet, was to
pass to his mother's kinsman Edmund Knyvet, of
Ashwellthorpe (Norf.), Serjeant porter to Henry VIII,
while Molesworth's manor and the advowson of the
church, purchased from Thomas Molcsworth, 2
messuages, etc., in Thurning
purchased by Sir Henry from
Thomas Henson, and another
messuage purchased from
Thomas Newman were togo to
Christopher Knyvet, brother
of Edmund ; another brother,
Anthony, being in the re-
mainders.2^
Christopher's estate seems
to have reverted to his elder
brother Edmund, whose son
John and grandson Thomas
inherited Thurning. The last-
named in 1577 sold the manor of Thurning and lands
appurtenant in Thurning, Hemington and Ludding-
ton to four of the tenants — Robert Byworth, Robert
Smyth, Nicholas Smyth, and Silvester Collyn,-' who
seem to have di\'ided it among themselves. Thus the
manor seems to have ceased.
From the inquisition after the death of Robert
Smith in 1622 it appears that his estate in the three
places named had been parcel of the manor called
Mullesworth's and afterwards Collet's manor, and
had been purchased by the deceased from Thomas
Knyvet. The heir was his son Henry Smith, aged
44. The lands were held of the king by fealty only .2*
Silvester Collyn, another purchaser, died in 1589
holding his lands in Thurning, etc , of the queen in
chief ; the lands lay in Northamptonshire and Hun-
tingdonshire, but the capital messuage was in the
latter county. His heir was a son Silvester, only
4 years of age.^
Margery Sturrapp, widow of Thomas Sturrapp,
Knyvet. .h^ciit a bend
and a border engrnUcd
sable.
and daughter and heir of Robert Byworth (another
purchaser), died in 1624 holding her land of the
king."^ Her son and heir Thomas, then 26 years of
age, died in 1631, leaving a son Thomas, aged 12.
The land was now stated to be held of the king by
knight's service.*-
\'arious religious houses had estates in the parish.
The earliest reference to Thurning is in a charter
by Burgred, king of Mercia (852-74) confirming a
grant of a hide and a half in Thurning made by
Grimketel to Croyland.'^ The estate is recorded in
Domesday Book, the land being held by Eustace in
1086. In 1303 only one hide was reckoned; the
services were unknown. '■* The abbey had a rent of
56/. id. from it in 1538 ; the pittancier used it.^^ \^
1546 it was leased to John Strenie.^'
Eugenius III in 1147 confirmed lands in Thurnmg
and Winwick to St. Mary's priory, Huntingdon. ="
The priory had copyhold rents in Winwick in 1538
amounting to £2 "js. y^-arly value. '*
The Hospitallers had some estate in Thurning,^'
held as of the preceptory of Temple Bruer. In 1540
they had a free rent of I3if. from Thomas Henston
for a cottage and lands called Sessikke.*" This tene-
ment was with others sold in 1546 to WiUiam
Ramsden and Richard Vavasor,'"- who quickly resold
it to George Smyth, of Sibston.''-
According to the Parliamentary Survey of 1650,
the Crown had had rents of js. from the freeholders
of Thurning, in lease to the Earl of Manchester ■"
In 1874 the chief landowners were Borrett Bletsoe.
who lived at Barnwell All Saints, and John and James
Fortescue.**-
There were 60 a. common in 1840.**
The church of ST. JAMES consists of
CHURCH chancel, 25 ft. by 15 ft. 6 in., with
north vestry, clearstoried nave 33 ft. by
16 ft., north aisle 7 ft. 6 in. wide, south aisle 9 ft. wide,
south porch, and west tower, or turret, containing
two bells. All the above measurements are internal.
In 1880-81 a great part of the structure was taken
down and rebuilt as nearly as possible in accordance
with the previous design, only the chancel, nave
arcades, south aisle wall, and the porch being left
standing ; the chancel was restored in 1902. Exter-
nally therefore the whole of the north and west sides
of the building, as well as the tower and clearstory,
is modern, but it appears to have replaced work of
the 15th century. The walls are of rubble, and the
roofs are modern and covered with lead.
The earliest church of which there is evidence was
built in the first half of the 12th century, and con-
sisted of a small square-ended chancel and an aisleless
nave which probably covered the area of the present
nave. The semi-circular chancel arch belongs to
this church. It is 9 ft. wide, of two square orders,
and has moulded imposts and half round responds
with scalloped capitals and chamfered bases. The
north aisle was thrown out and the north arcade
" y.C.II. Lams, v, 117.
" Bridget, loc. cit., and Add Chart.
813-6, 7579- ) or a lease made by Colet
in 1482, see the Deeds Enrolled 00 De
Banco R. 882.
" Feet of F. Divers Cos. 18 Edw. IV ;
see Early Chanc. Proc. bdle. 120, no. 18.
" P.C.C. 22 Ayloffe.
" Add. Chart. 704, 705 ; Pat. R.
19 EHj;. pt. 3 (lie. of alienation) ; Feet of
F. Hunts. Mich. 19 Elii.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccccxv, 115.
"' Ibid, ccxx, 5. " Ibid, ccccxvi, 104.
»= Ibid, cccdxiv, 8.
" Dugdale, Mon. Angl. ii, 113, 115.
" Feud Aids, ii, 470.
'' Mins. Accts. Hen. VIII, 2020.
•« L. 6- P. He;. VIII, xxi (2), p. 440.
Ill
" Diigdali-, !\fcti. An^l. vi, 80.
" Ibid. 82, citing Mins. Accts.
" Cal. Pal. 1549-51, p. 232.
" Mins. Accts. Hen. VIII, n. 7274.
" /.. (S- P. Hen. VIII, xxi (i), p. 356.
" Ibid. p. 488.
" Parly. Surv. Common W. Hunts, i,
** V^'helan, Northants. 72;.
*' Lewis, Tofofi. Diet.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
nserted about 1180-90. The nave was at the same
time lengthened westward by a bay, and the former
north-west angle of the nave now forms the square
part of the masonr)' pier at the west end of the existing
north arcade. The arcade as built was of three round
arches, now reduced to two, of two orders, the inner
chamfered on both sides and the outer moulded. It
has a circular pillar and half-round responds with
moulded capitals and bases. The east respond of
the destroyed western arch now stands within a
recess in the modern wall and has the nail-head orna-
ment in its capital ; otherwise it is similar to the
others. The south aisle with its arcade was erected
■HI2IH CCMURV EARLY
E3c II8O-9O
:i]13ffiCi;NTURy
__j I IB Century
□ I5ffiCENT.ILATEi!500)
NoTE:SouIhwail
Jmey be 6'-cent. with /-% r,
|l4'-''cenT.inserrions,or LJ |880 —81
may be rebuilt in
14!' cent.
10 5 O 10 20 30
III iImiiI I 4 I
Scale of Feet
Plan of Thurninc Church
in the 13th century, and is probably the first aisle
on this side, as there is no evidence of an earlier one.
The arcade was of three pointed arches, of which two
only remain, of two hollow chamfered orders resting
on a pillar composed of four shafts with fillet on face
and hollows between. The springing of the third
arch still remains, but the westernmost pillar is
octagonal and appears to be of later date ; it may
indicate a proposed rebuilding of the arcade from this
end. The cast window of this aisle is of two trefoiled
lights, with a trefoil opening over each, and in the
south wall is a piscina with a cinquefoiled head. The
three-light square headed window in the same wall
is apparently a 14th century insertion, and the south
doorway is of this period. The south wall may have
been rebuilt at this time.
The chancel was rebuilt in the 14th century and
probably took the place of one which replaced the
1 2th century chancel referred to above. The windows
are contemporary with the rebuilding, the cast window
of four trefoiled lights, and two south windows, one
with three and the other with two lights ; below the
western of these is a pointed low-side window with
traccried cinquefoiled head, the sill of which is 4 ft.
above the ground. There is also a priest's doorway
on this side. On the north side is a modern window
of three lights similar in design to the others, and
further west is a doorway to the vestry, and two arches,
one (modern) open to the vestry itself and the other
to a small chapel on the east end of the north aisle.
The vestry appears to have been originally a priest's
room, or sacristy, from which a circular stone stair
gave access to the chancel roof ; the uppc part of
this stair and the turret surmounting it still remain.
Above the arch opening to the chapel the rood loft
doorway rei.aains in the wall, and from the chapel
a squint is directed to the high altar. There are
two plain sedilia and a trefoil-headed piscina in the
usual position in the chancel, and on the north side
an aumbry.
Towards the end of the 15th century,
or early in the 1 6th, if the evidence of
the rebuilding of 1881 is to be trusted,
the clearstory was added and the porch
and vestry built. The nave was at the
same time reduced in length by one bay,
a new west wall being erected in front
of the two westernmost piers. This wall
carries the east side of the tower, the
west front of which is set upon a lofty
external arch enclosing a two-light tran-
soraed window. The south porch has a
four-centred moulded outer arch on
attached shafts, and there is an octagonal
stoup in its north-east angle.
The font is ancient and has a plain
octagonal bowl.
The oak pulpit, lectern, litany desk,
and a seat in the chancel are all of i6th
century date, and are said to have come
from Barnwell All Saints.''* The other
fittings are modern. There is a mural
tablet in the north aisle to Robert Negus,
gent., d. 1657. The chancel arch is
filled by a modern rood-screen and the organ is placed
above the arch.
The smaller of the two bells is a recasting by Taylor
of Loughborough in 1899 of a medieval bell which
bore the inscription : ' Dei genetrix, Virgo Maria,
ora pro [nobis].' The larger bell has four pairs of
letters, perhaps part of an alphabet, and appears to
be of pre-Reformation date from a Leicester foundry.*'
The plate consists of a cup and cover paten, the
latter dated 1569 and the cup inscribed ' For the
towne of Thorneing ' ; an early 15th century Florentine
chalice, silver gilt, with enamels on the knop and foot,
given in 1924 by the parishioners as a thankoffering
for the rector's (Rev. H. B. Gottwaltz) twenty-five
years' service ; a jewelled silver-gilt ciborium given
in 1900 ; a silver ciborium of 1908-9 ; and a flagon of
1 870-1, given in 1872. There is also a pewter flagon
and a plated almsdish.
The registers before 1812 are as follows: — (i)
baptisms 1560-1804, marriages 1560-1641, 1666-1809,
burials 1560-1803; (ii) baptisms and burials 1809-
1812; (iii) marriages 1754-1812.
The advowson was in 1318 held
ADFOWSON with the Molesworth manor, for in
that year the king presented to the
church, because he had the custody of the heirs of
Walter de Molesworth.** In 1403 Thomas Hethe,
" The church of All -Sainti, Barnwell,
WM pulled down about 1825.
" Owen, Cb. Bells of Huntingdonibirt,
137. There were retained by the church
in I {53 a chalice of lilver, two great
I 12
bells and a aaunce bell. F.xch. K.R.
Church Gds. bdlc. ii, no. 33.
" Cttl. Pal. 1317-21, p. 196.
Thurning Church : The Interior, looking South-east
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
WARMINGTON
clerk, transferred to his brother Henry all the estate
he and another brother Richard had in half an acre
in Thurning (John Mabbot had been tenant), with
the advowson of the church.'" As shown above,
Sir Henry Colet purchased the advowson from
Thomas Molesworth about 1470, and it came to
Christopher Knyvett after the de.ith of Dr. John
Colet in isig.*"
One Richard Routhall acquired it with certain
tenements in Thurning, and these passed to his
widow Agnes and her second husband Robert Char-
nock.'' Her son Tliomas Routiuil made a feoffment,
in 1529, a few months before his mother's death, in
which the advowson was included.''- The advowson,
however, came back to Thomas Knyvet, for it was
excepted when he sold the manor in 1577 ;■''■' he trans-
ferred a moiety to trustees in 1580.'"' In 1617 the
advowson was acquired by Thomas Wells, clerk,'* and
John Wells,rector of Thurning from l627,and probably
son of Thomas, bequeathed it in 1656 to Emmanuel
College, Cambridge.'''' Tlie master and fellows have
since presented to tiic rectory.
In 1291 the cliurcli of Thurning was taxed at £&.'"''
By 1535 tiie value had increased to /^IZ,'* but in the
tiiiie of Elizabeth the rector leased the rectury for £lo,
out of wliich a pension of 6j. Sd. was paid to Hunting-
don priory.'* The tithes were commuted for /180.
Tliere are 60 acres glebe. The rectory house is near
tlic church.
A National school was built in l8.).3.
The Rev. John Wells, by his Will in
CHARITY 1640, gave a rentcharge of ^1 to the
poor vested in the Minister and Over-
seers. In respect of tiiis an annual sum of £\ was
paid out of lands in the parish and distributed equally
among 20 po^r families.
WARMINGTON
Wermingtimc, c. 980 ; Wirminton, Werminton,
Wormington.
Warmington extends eastward from the Nene ;
on the northern boundary is Elton in Huntingdonshire,
the old part of its manor-house standing on the border
line, part in each county, and Elton Park extending
some way into this parish. The acreage is 4,013
(including 20 acres in water), of which a good deal
more than half are permanent grass. The soil is
clay, with gravel underlying. Wheat and barley
are grown. The land rises to about 212 ft. above sea
level in the middle of the parish, whence it falls
towards Billing Brook on the eastern boundary to
100 ft., and more quickly towards the Nene on the
north-west, where the level is as low as 55 ft. to 50 ft.
The straggling village is in this western part, with
the church to the south and the manor-house or
Berry stead to the north; there is a moat a little north-
east of the latter. To the south of the church is a
late l6th or early 17th century two-storey house, now
unoccupied and in a dilapidated state, with two bay
mndows on the ground floor, low muUioned windows
above, and a thatched roof. The mill is on the river
some distance to the north-west. The chief road
leads from Oundle north-east through the village,
going to Elton and Peterborough ; another road goes
east towards Norman Cross. Eaglethorpe to the north
and Papley to the south-east were formerly hamlets,
but were depopulated even in Bridges' time (171 1),
when he records only three shepherds' cottages in
the latter place. There is a moat at Papley. Eagle-
thorpe House has a door said to have been brought
from Fotheringhay.
Formerly the parish was considered partly in
WilTibrook Hundred and partly in Polebrook, and
Bridges thus states the position : " Adjoining the
touin and lying intermixed with it is Warmington
hamlet, all lying in (Willibrook) Hundred. In the
earliest records this township is comprised within
Willibrook Hundred, but Warmington town is now-
reputed a member of the Hundred of Polebroo'-,.* Maps
of a century ago show the north-west portion (the
Grange) in Willibrook Hundred. One part of the
town was called Southorp and the other Mill End.
Near the town are two springs formerly known as
Stockwell and Caldwell or Chadwell, the latter yielding
a mineral water.
In 1393 the lordship was divided into four fields —
the Ernefield, Bolwell Field, Blackthorn Field and
Westfield.2 The common fields were enclosed by
an Act of 1774.
In 1921 the population numbered 550.
George Thicknesse, a former master of St. Paul's
School, at one time resided with an old schoolfellow
at Arlescote, and was buried in Warmington church-
yard in 1790.'
From a very early time the whole
MANORS of WARMINGTON belonged to the
abbey of Peterborough, possibly from its
foundation. There is a charter attributed to Wulphere''
embodying such a claim, and Edgar's charter of 963
names Warmington among the estates confirmed or
restored to the monks.' Two of the inhabitants
about that time have their names recorded as sureties
for land here- — Thurferth and Cytel Claccessune,^
and one Swerteling took land on the understanding
that it should revert to St. Peter at his death.'
In 1086 the abbey held, as it had held in 1066,
10 hides in Warmington.* (I) Of these 7J were held
in demesne ; the mill rendered 40/. and 325 eels
yearly. The value in 1066 was 5/., but in 1086 it
had risen to £11, pointing to ruthless devastation
just before the Conquest." In this portion the
rubrication** is defective or erroneous. (II) Two
" Add Chart. 699. " Sec ibid. S26.
•' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), I, 114.
•• Feet of F., Diveri Co». Hil. 20
lien, VIII.
•• Add chart. 705.
'* Feet of F. Hunti. Trin. Z2 Elii.
•' Ibid. Mich. IS ]»». I.
'• E. S. Shuckburgh, Emmanutl CoU.,i2i.
"Pope A'ifi. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 36;
Feud. /IrJsy ii, 481.
" ruhr Kcd. (Rec. Com.), 260.
" Ct. of Req. bdlc. 76, no. 30.
' HiU. Northanls, ii, 478.
* Bridge! citing Abbot Elncston'i
rental, Cott. MS. Nero C. vii.
' Dut. Nat. Biog.
• Birch, Ciiriul. Sat. i_ 36 — ipuriouf,
for the names of the shires are used.
• .'Ingl. Sax. Chron. an. 963,
• Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 42.
' Ibid. f. 44rf.
' V.C.H. korlhant!. i, 314, 315, 316.
' See Oundle.
'• " In Wiceilt Hund."
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
kniglits held one hide, which belonged to VVillybrook
Hundred ; the value had risen from 2s. to 20J. The
two knights were probably ancestors of the Gargates
and Peverels of later days. (Ill) Isembard [Artifex]
and Rozelin held Ij hide ; the land had increased in
value from 5;. to 40.(. between 1066 and 1086. This
estate was Papley.
The Survey made c. 1 1 25 gives no further infor-
mation, but again affirms that one hide was in Willy-
brook Hundred ; the assessment of Papley is given
as one hide only, and is recorded under Polebrook
Hundred."
Later than Domesday the abbots appear to have
made further grants to free tenants. Thus one
portion, \ hide, was joined with the manor of Church-
field in Ouiidle'2 ; another with Stoke Doyley,''' and
a third with Torpel in UfTord. Papley seems to have
been the only free tenement entirely within Warming-
ton, for Gargate had land in Irthlingborough as part
of his fee, and the Peverel holding here was attached
to Paston.
The manor proper, that held in demesne by the
abbots, remained undisturbed till the Dissolution.
W.irmington, with its churches and mills, was con-
firmed to the abbey by Eugenius HI in 1146'* and
by Richard I in 1189,^* as well as by later kings. Its
condition about 11 25 is described in det.iil in the
Liber Niger, as follows : **
In Warmington there are 8 hides geldable ; of
which 20 full villeins and 29 half-villeins hold 34J
virgates. The full viUeins work 3 days weekly ; the
otheis according to their tenures. In all they have
16 ploughs and plough 68J acres, and also do 3 boon
works with their ploughs ; they carry 34 cartloads
from the wood. They render ^4 I is. ^d., and give
to the charity of St. Peter lo rams, 400 loaves, 40
dishes (disci), 1 34 hens and 260 eggs. There are also
8 sockmen, who have 6 ploughs. In demesne are
4 ploughs for 32 oxen, 9 cows, 5 calves and one idle
beast, 129 sheep, 61 pigs, a draught mare {aura) and
a foal. Also a mill with one yard {z'ir^a) of land and
6 acres, rendering 60s. and 500 eels. Ascelin the
clerk holds the church with 2 yards of land of
the altar of St. Peter of Burgh. Robert, son of
Richard, has 2\ yards. In this town can be stocked
100 sheep.
In 1231 a composition was made between Abbot
Martin and John (Scot), earl of Huntingdon, as lord
of Fotheringhay, concerning the fishing in the Nene.
It was agreed that where tiie earl had one side of the
river and the abbot the other, the two should have
the fishing ; but where the abbot had land on both
sides he should have the sole right of fishing between
them ; from Turnbrook to Pirihou (in Southwick)
the carl should have sole right."
There is a very full rental made in I393i*under
Abbot Nicholas de Elnestovve.
After coming into the hands of Henry VIII the
manor was, with Oundle, etc., given to Katherine
Howard, his queen, in 1541,'* and after reverting to
the Crown on her execution in the same year was
given to queen Katherine Parr in 1544,2" and she
retained it till her death in 1 548, when it again fell to
the Crown. A very full survey made in 1546 is
extant.^l
From a survey of 1605^^ it appears that Thomas
Elmes held by charter of 28 October, 1555, a messuage,
late of Edmund Elmes, his father, and previously of
Robert Kirkham, and various others ; also the rectory.
The Warden of Stamford had land in Middlefield and
Westfield. The inhabitants claimed to hold by copy
a tenement near the parsonage called Scobhouse.
William Dickenson had the tithes of Eaglethorpe,
paying ^3 a year. The jury found that the fines of all
the ancient copyholds were certain, being half a year's
rent ; all freeholders and copyholders were accus-
tomed to feed their cattle on the common ; copy-
holders could use the timber on their copyholds for
repairs ; land had been taken out of every farm to
make cow pastures, called Angerstonne Leyes (50 ac.) ;
leys at the over end of Golding Slade next the Wold
were their sheep and neats' pasture, and there was
other pasture on the Greens. There was no waste
in the woods. " Thomas Elmes, esq., had a fishing in
the manor butting on the east end of Thornbrook, and
so to the Fishhouse butting east, so to the Holme
butting east, so to Elton dam butting north ; being
in the same water these kind of fishes — perch, roach,
cheviun, pickerell, eel," etc. ; the extent was about
J mile. There were ashes and wiches in the woods.
These were the ancient bounds of the manor :
Portersherne on the north-west, to Warmington
Grove, to Tansor Cross, to the corner of William
Blofield's close, so up Barnwell slade, to Tansor Mere,
to Potter's Hill, to Butcher's Gr.ive, to Lutton
brook, to Wasingley brook, to Odgarstone brook, to
Great Wolwell, to Foxhalls hill, to Eglethorp, to the
Watch close, so to Thornbrook east, over the high
stream to the weir of Fotheringhay Park to Fother-
inghay bridge, from the bridge in the farther side of
the causey (the bridge lying east) to Portersherne.
Leases of portions had been made by the Crown
from time to time-' until in 1614 the manor was sold
to Thomas Elmes of Green's Norton^'* ; court let
and view of frank-pledge were added in 161 7."
Tliomas Elmes, who had inherited the manors of
Lilford and Papley, with various other estates in the
neighbourhood, settled this manor of Warmington on
his younger son Thomas on his marriage (1621) with
Anne, daughter of Robert Clark of London, as
" V.C.H. Northaiili. i, 366, 387.
*' Cbron. Petrob. (C.imdcn Soc), 175,
fri>m 'hf I.ibcr Nigrr.
*' By fine in 114S-0. Robert dc Stoke
acknowledged the abbot's right in J
knight'l fee in Stoke, Warmington and
Aihton. The abbot thereupon released
the lame to him for a rent of 8i. (Pytch-
lej't Reg. f. 9+rf).
" Gunton, lliil. Ch. of Pettrborotifb,
131.
" Cal. Chan. 1327-41, p. 174.
'• ChroH. Pnrth. 160.
"Colt. MS. CIcop. C. ii, f. ai</.
For question as to the fisitery at Elton,
between Divorgilla, widow of John
Balliol,and the Abbot of Rirnscy in 1286
sec Assize R. \^% m. yd.
" Cott. MS. Nero C. vii. f. 85.
'• /,. (?>■ P. Urn. Vlll, xvi, p. 716.
•» Ibid, xix (1), p. 644.
■■ Mins. AccM. Hen. VIII, 2661. The
issues of a messuage with the ' Rurgh
wcrke ' were 401. 4jd. ; the site of the
manor was in lease to Thomas Rootlie
and the mill and rectory to lluinphrry
Ilornc ; from the warden of the Hospital
called the Dc.idehouse in Stamford, 8(.
"Miic. Bki. (Land Revenue), 221, fl.
2S6-326.
" Eg. in 15(10 the manor to William
Gerard and others (Pat. R. 2 Eliz. pt. 15);
in 1588 a close to Thomas Newman
(Pat. R. 30 Elir. pt. 4); in 1608-q, the
site of the manor to Roger Dale (Pat. R.
6 Jas. I, pt. 2) ; also a messuage and three
water mills to Edward Cuthbert (Pat. R.
6 Jas. I,pt. 23).
'* To he held in chief as one knight's
fee (P.it. It. 11 Jas. I, pt. 12). Acreman's
land had been demised to John KIdred and
others. " Pat. 11. 15 Jas. I, pt. 16.
I \i
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
WARMINGTON
appears from the inquisition after tlie father's death
in 1633.-' In 1651 Thomas, the sun, was discharged
of an assessment for the service of the State, as possess-
ing no considerable estate."^' In 1653 he suflEered a
recovery of the manor of Warmington, with four
water mills and a rent of £i\ from the rectory ;-*
and then in 1657, in concert witli his wife, trans-
ferred this manor to trustees.^' He died in 1664,
aged 73, having liad by his wife four sons and nine
daughters. Only one of the sons, William, reached
manhood, and he died before his fatlier in 1653, aged
iS*" ; so the inheritance became divisible ultimately
among the five surviving daughters,^' the widow
retaining the manor till her death in 1686. The
daughters were Ann, wife of John Pain, of Colsden
Grange in Roxton^- ; Margaret, wife of Robert Tat-
nall, of London, cleric^' ; Martha, wife of Edmund
Spinkes, of Oundle, clerk''* ; Elizabeth, wife of
Richard Holt, and Mary, wife of George Wroth of
South Farnham, mercer.'^ There were disputes in
1692 among the coheirs, and according to Nathaniel
Spinks, clerk, of St. Giles in the Fields, eldest son
and heir of Edmund and Martha, Richard Holt
obtained possession, and Nathaniel had to sue in
Chancery for his own right in the Elmes estate. He
had three brothers — Seth, William and Elmes Spinks —
and a sister Martha.'" The youngest of these sons,
Elmes Spinks, appears to have obtained possession of
the whole manor," and Bridges describes him as lord
of it in 17U. By his will of 1720 this Elmes left
all his real estate in Aldwinkle and Warmington to
his only son Elmes, with remainder to daughters
Debora and Ann.'** He died soon afterwards.
Elmes Spinks the son, in 1738 suffered a recovery
of the manor," and again in 1745 in conjunction
with his wife Jemima.''*' In the next year (10 January,
1745-46) he sold it to Thomas Powys of Lilford for
^[4,362 ; the sale included the manor house (Berry-
stead), Millholme, Bcrrystead and Lammas closes,
land in Bolwell field, various pieces of meadow, and
a fee farm rent of ^24 from the rectory.**
Thomas Powys, who bought up a number of
smaller estates in the parish, died in 1767, leaving a
son and successor of the same name, who was created
Baron Lilford in 1797. He also bought some minor
estates, and made a settlement in 1772, previous to
his marriage with Eleanor Mann of Bourne Place,
Kent.''- A further settlement of the manors of
Warmington, Lilford and Wigsthorpe, with various
V£
Proby, Earl of Carjri-
fort. Ermine a festt
gules uiith a lion paisani
or thereon.
lands there, was made in 1 794, to provide for younger
children, and in June, 1797, Powys sold the manor of
Warmington with quit rents and other perquisites, a
fishery in the Nene, and various messuages, closes,
etc., to John Joshua (Proby), 1st Earl of Carysfort, of
Elton Hall. The manor descended in this family
until the death of the last Earl of Carysfort in 1909,*'
when it passed to a nephew. His sister Elizabeth
((/. 1900) had married Lord
Claud Hamilton, brother of
the 1st Duke of Abercorn, and
their son. Col. Douglas James
Hamilton, who took the name
of Proby in 1904, is now lord
of the manor.
The Gargatc knight's fee
lay two-thirds in Warmington
and one-third in Irthling-
borougli.'''' Robert de Gar-
gate, who was living about
1 160, is said to have been the
first fcofTee.''' He had appa-
rently two sons, Roger and
Robert. Roger and Agnes his wife had a son Hugh, who
held the fee in 1 189.'** In 1206 Robert de Gargate, pro-
bably his uncle, gave him 8J^ virgates of land in War-
mington,*' and two years later he conveyed 2 virgates
to Walter, prior of St. Andrew's of Northampton, the
grant being confirmed by Robert and Maud his wife.'*'
Hugh is mentioned in 1216, but died before 1220.**
He left two daughters by his wife Sibyl, namely, Muriel,
the wife of William de Ros, who died before 1 2 30, leav-
ing a son Hugh,'" and Isabel, wife of Gerard, son of
Roger de Munibery, who had a son Peter.*' Appar-
ently the Irthlingborough third of the Gargate fee
passed to Gunfrid de Gargate, whose son David
conveyed 7 virgates of the fee there to Walter, abbot
of Peterborough (i 233-46). '^ Ernulf, prior of St.
Andrew's, Northampton, granted the 2 virgates in
Warmington given to his house by Hugh de Gargate,
to Simon de St. Liz,*^ and in 1253 and 1254 the two-
thirds of the Gargate fee in Warmington were held
by John de St. Liz.'* William de St. Liz acquired
further lands in 1285,'* and he, or another of the same
name, did homage in 1 3 10,*' and in 1315 held these
two parts of the Gargate fee." About 1322 William
de St. Liz sold his interest to Ralph de Thorney,
who died in 1333.^ His widow Margaret was
holding in 1 346, and their son Thomas was in pos-
•• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccccxcii, 87.
■' CM. Con:, for Advance of Monev^ 730.
" Rccov. R. Xorthantj, Mich. 1653.
" Feet of F. Northants, Comm. Easter
1657. •• M.I. in Warmington ch.
•* Another daughter, Christian, wife
of Joseph Bulkcley, teems to have died
before the partition.
"Conveyed to trustees; Feet of F.
Xorthants, Mil. 16 & 17 Chas. II.
'* Conveyed to trustees (Feet of F.
Northants, Hil. i6 Si 17 Chas. II) j and
after to John Ward ; Ibid. Hil. 2-3
James II.
" These in conjunction with Elizabeth
Elmes, then unmarried, conveyed to the
Pain trustees (Feet of F. Northants,
East. iS Chas II).
" Conveyed to Setb Spinks (Ibid.
East. 3 Jas. II).
** Conveyed to trustees (Ibid. Trin.
16 Chas. II). Afterwards Wroth con-
veyed to Leonard Child (Ibid. Hil.
I & 2 Jas. II).
"' Chan. Proc. before 1714, Bridges
Div. bdle. 16S, no. 11. 'I'he plaintiffs
were Robert Johnson of Spalding, mercer,
and Martha his wife, sister of the defend-
ant Nicholas Spinks.
" Abstract of title, kindly lent by .Mr.
Granville Proby.
" Recov. R. Northants, Mich. 12
Geo. II ; the manor with a free fishery in
the Nene.
*' Abstract of title.
" Ibid.
•■ Recov. R. Hil. 11 Geo. III.
" John Joshua Proby, ist earl, d. 1828
— son John, 2nd carl, d. 1855— bro.
Granville Leveson, 3rd earl, d. 18C8 —
son Granville Leveson, 4th earl, d. 1872 —
bro. William, 5th earl, d. 1909.
" Pytchley, Bk. of Feet (Northants
Rec. Soc), 126, i26rt. 127.
" Ibid.
" Cat. Chart. R. 1327-41, p. 277.
" Feet of F. Northants, 7 John, no. 198.
" Ibid. 9 John, no. 212 ; 27 Hen. Ill,
no. 468 ; Cott. MS. Vesp. E. ii, f. 225-6.
*• Farrer, Honors and Knigbts* Fees,
iii, 410-11.
'" Ibid. ; Maitland, Braclon't Note Bk.
no. 382.
" Farrer, loc. cit. ; cf. V.C.H. Buikt,
iv, 158.
•• Pytchley, loc. cit.
" Cott. MS. Vesp. E ii, f. 226* ; Soc.
Anliq. MS.,6r, f. 248.
'« Feet of F. Northants, 37 Hen. Ill,
no. 637 ; Pytchley, loc. cit.
" Feet of F. Northants, 13 Edw. I,
no. 147.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 248.
" Pytchley, loc. cif. j Cott. MS. Vesp.
E xxii.
" Pytchley, loc. cit.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
session shortly afterwards.'^ The almoner of Peter-
borough secured a virgate of this fee.*"
Soon afterwards the Stokks or Stock family became
prominent. They may have originally been con-
nected with the Stoke Doyly land in Warmington.**
In 1375 the right of Thomas del Stokkes to a tene-
ment in Elton and Warmington was acknowledged by
Hugh Rauf and Agnes his wife ;'''- and the same was
held by John Stokkes and Alice his wife in 1390.*^
It was probably the same John who, in 1428, held the
fourth part of a knight's fee in Warmington which
had formerly (1346) been held by Margaret wife of
Ralph Thorney.*^ He or his son John seems also to
have had a grant of lands forfeited by John Moyne.^*
A son of John and Agnes Stock was Sir William
Stock, knight, of Warmington, who, in 1464, was
attainted as an adherent of Henry VI,** but procured
pardon and restitution in 1472.*' He died in 1485,
leaving as heir his brother Thomas Stokes, clerk.**
Agnes, widow of John Stok, died in August, 1465,
holding tenements in Warmington and Papley of the
abbot of Peterborough, and others in various places
in the district. The heir was her son the above-
named Thomas Stok, clerk.** This son died 23 Octo-
ber 1495, having settled his estate on one Thomas
Stock the younger and his sister Agnes ; these may
have been illegitimate, for his heirs were his two
sisters, Isabel, widow of — Fazakerley and Margaret
wife of William Brown of Stamford, whose daughter
and heir married John Elmes.'" The Fazakerley
share, described as 8 messuages, 100 acres of land
and 40 acres of meadow in Warmington and Church-
field, was purchased by George Kirkham about
1504.'! By his wilF'^ (3 March 1527-28) he be-
queathed all his land to his son Robert, some being
in the hands of trustees for Robert's wife Sibyl ;
should Robert have no children, then the lands in
Warmington, Papley, Churchfield, Elton, etc., were
to be given to his daughter Margaret Middlcton, with
remainders to his other daughters Agnes Lynne and
Cecily Kirkham.'^ Dying soon afterwards, he was
succeeded by his son Sir Robert Kirkiiam, who at
the Dissolution acquired the priory of Fineshade and
made it his seat, selling his lands in Warmington,
which he styled a manor,'* to Edmund Elmes in
1555.'" The Stock estate was thus reunited and
afterwards descended with Papley (g-v.).
Walo de Paston held of the abbot (about 1 100)
J hide in Warmington for the third part of a knight's
fee, in conjunction with his land in Paston.'* This
had descended to Robert Peverel by 1 146," and to
" Pytchley, loc. cit.; Cott. M.S. CIcop.
C. i.
•" Pjrechlcy, op. clt., p. 155.
•* Wymund dc Stoke was holding a
knight's fee in Warmington in 1125-8
and in 1199 Robert dc Stoke held half a
knight's fee in Warmington and chcwhcrc
(I'ytchlcy, Bk. of Frei, ii4>i, 1451, cf. I'cct
of F. Northants. 10 Rich. I, no. 77).
Vivi.m de Stokes occurs in 1227 {Cal.
Chan. R. 1226-57, p. 20).
•« Feet of F. Divers Cos. 49 Edw. \U.
" Ibid. 14 Ric. 11.
*« /•>urf. /f<i/i, iv, 48.
" Fine R. 12 lien. VI | CI. Pjl.
1456 41, p. 467.
'• RoHioj I'arl. v, 512.
*"* Ibid, vi, 28. In 1469 he w.is
described as " of Temple Ncwsam,"
Vorki ; Cal. fill. R. 1467-77. p. 153.
William Peverel by 1 189,'* and he was succeeded by
Robert Peverel. Robert's under-tenant a httle later
(121 1) was Gilbert Peverel," who released to abbot
Mart'n the 4 virgates of land he held by the service
of the third part of a fee. Robert quitclaimed to the
abbot all his right in Gilbert's tenement, and at the
same time released its liability to knight's service.
Gilbert retained one virgate at a rent ; the other
holders were Hugh Gargate, Hugh de Codestoke,
Reginald son of Walter Le Noreys.* The name
Peverel fee was retained for some time. It rendered
13/. 4(£. to the scutage of Deganv^ c. I250,''i and the
reeve of Warmington received from it iSd. yearly for
ward of Rockingham castle.'^ The tenants at this
time were Robert Peverel, the almoner of Peter-
borough (successor of Coterstock), Reginald Porthors
(Noreys), and John de St. Liz (Gargate).'^ Hugh
Aubrey and Athelina, widow of Robert Coif, had
succeeded Pe\erel and Porthors in 1346.**
The Churchfield (Angevin) part of Warmington
seems to have lain in Eaglethorp. In 1202 Christian,
widow of Adam Gargate, released to Ismena, widow of
WiUiam Angevin, dowry in Warmington.*' The
same Christina was concerned in another sale to
Geoffrey, the clerk of Elton.** Baldric, son of
William Angevin, released to the almoner of Peter-
borough a virgate which his mother, Ismena, had once
held,''' and he was holding in 1227.'* The property
seems to have followed the descent of Churchfield in
Oundle and Lyveden in Aldwinckle St. Peter (y.f.),
and formed part of the lands in Warmington, and
Elton forfeited by Sir John Holt in 1387.'^
John, son of Sir John Knyvet, in 1395 made a
settlement of an estate in Warmington and Elton
sometime held by Joan, widow
of Richard Knyvet, and by
John Ki'.yvet the father, by
feoffment of William Lyve-
den."" From abbot Elnestow's
rental of 1393*^ it appears that
the Knyvet holding was largely
in Eaglethorp, and a later
corrector altered the name
Knyvet to Sapcote. How the
latter family succeeded is not
manifest, but Richard Sapcote
and Margaret his wife held the
manor of Elton and lands in Eaglethorpe in 1517."-
The estate descended to Henry Sapcote, who was in
possession in 1600, in right of his wife Joan, daughter
and coheir of Robert Sapcote.*'' Soon afterwards it was
Sapcote. Sable
dovitvles argent.
tire;
°« Cal. Inij. p.m. Hen. VII, i, no. 45.
•" Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Ed. IV, no. 32.
'" Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. VII, i, no. 1179.
Will, I'.C.C. 32 Vox.
" Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 328, no. 58.
See Ibid. bdlc. 254, no. 53 and bdle. 32S,
no. 57.
"P.C.C. 38 Porch.
'• Ibid, printed in Coll. Top. el Gen.
V. 307.
'« Feet of F. Northants, Mich, and Ilil.
4 & 5 Phil, and Mary.
'•Com. Pleas Deeds enrolled, Midi.
2 & 3 I'hil. and Mary.
'• Soc. Antlq. MS. (to.
" PytthUy, Ilk. of Feel (Northants
Rec. Soc), 122, 12311.
" Cal. Chart. 1327-41, p. 277.
" Feet of F. Northants, case 171,
file 13, no. 233.
»» Cott. MS. Cleo. C. ii, ft. 37, 37^.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 245J.
" Sparkc, lint. Angl. Script (Swaffhan.^,
f. 265.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 246.
"« Cott. MS. Cleo. C. i, '. 105.
"' Feet of F. Northants, case 171,
file 9, no. 141. " Ibid. no. 142.
•' Sparkc, Hill. Angl. Scri/>/ (Swaflham),
ccixiii.
"' Cal. Chart. 1226-57, p. 20.
"' Cal. Close, 1389-92, p. 540.
"" Ibid. 1392-96, p. 397.
"' Cott. MS. Nero, C. vii, (. 86d.
'■ Harl. ch. 55, G. i«.
•' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccliii, 89.
For pedigree, see Vtm. of II unit (Camd.
Soc), p. 12 ; John Sapcot — s. Richard —
8. John — s. Richard — s. Robert — daus.
lilranor, Mar^.irct and Frances.
116
3
u
o
U
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
WARMINGTON
acquired by the Proby family, descending through the
Earls of Carysfort to the present owner as shown
above. In an inquiry made in December 1605 it was
stated that Henry Sapcote had copyhold and freehold
lands in Warmington, rendering ^^3 gi. lod. a year, but
how much was copyhold and how much freehold was
not known. He also had copyhold tenements in
Eaglethorp, which decayed about 1570.**
In 1291 the prior of Fineshade had is. rent from
Warmington, and the prior of St. Andrew's 19/. ;
the almoner, sacrist and infirmarer of Peterborough
had respectively ^^3 13/. ^d., 6s. 8J., and 6s.*'' In
153s the almoner received £z8 3/. ^^J. from this
manor and the cellarer had 60s. from Eaglethorp."*
The nups of Stamford had an estate here," called
Blofield. In 1545 a rent of lo^d. and lands in War-
mington were granted to Richard and Robert
Taverner.*^ Bridges gives the following description
of the house there : ' There are still [1711] remaining
arched windows and a chamber at the west end, now
a dove house, called the Chapel Chamber ; 4 ac.
of meadow called Nuns' Acres belong to it.'' There
was a local family named Blofield, and Ishmael
^:U7
Knights Iemplars.
Ardent a cross gules
and a chief sable.
K.NIGHTS Holl'ITALUBi.
Gules a cross argent.
Blofield, gent., died in 1636, holding a tenement called
Ederley Place, descending to him from his father
William and grandfather Thomas. He left sons,
William and Ishmael.- The Knights Templars
(afterwards the Hospitallers) had an estate here from
an early time, for Brother Aymery, Master of the
Temple, claimed from Hugh Gargate land in War-
mington and Ogerstone in 1209;^ in 1546 appur-
tenances of the manor of Sibston, late of Temple
Brewer preceptory, were sold by the Crown.* Rents
of "jd. and 4J. are recorded from Warmington and
Lutton in the Temple Brewer accounts.*
The various minor tenements of Gargate and others
seem to have varied considerably from time to time.
so that the tracing of them is uncertain, but the
manor of PJPLET retained its individuality. Isem-
bard Artifcx, named in Domesday Book, is recorded to
have been the first enfeoffed by the abbots of a knight's
fee." His successors took the local surname but the
descent cannot be traced in detail. Martin dc
Pappele attested charters of the abbot in 1 117 and 1 1 20
and is mentioned in 1 1 46. Probably a son or grandson
of the same name held the knight's fee in 1 189,'
and was defendant in a claim for dower in 1 202.*
Walter de Papley had succeeded by 1 21 2.' Roger
de Peterborough gave land in Peterborough to
Martin son of Walter de Papley in free marriage
with his daughter Alice." Martin de Papley was
tenant in 1227II and acquired other land in 1240;'^
he occurs in 12421^ and 1 254, paying 4^. for ward of
Rockingham Castle.'* The hamlet, which made
with Warmington one geldal.le vill, about this time
contributed zs. for sheriff's aid, is. for view of frank-
pledge and 3 1. for suit."* John de Papley did homage
in 1276 and Thomas son of John in 1300.'* Tlie
name of this latter occurs again in 1316," and 1322,
when he was recorded to hold a knight's fee and the
fourth part of the serjeanty of being bailiff at Castor
Court. 1* He or another TThomas occurs in 1346,"
and the Bishop of Lincoln in 1398 gave licence for
divine service in the manor house of Papley for two
years to Thomas Papley and Isabel his wife.-" The
same tenement was held in 1428 by John Papley
(I fee), and John Beven and John Ward (} fee). 2'
In 1456 Richard Papley, son and heir of John, and
Isabel his wife, joined in selling the manor to William
Brown of Stamford, merchant. --
As already stated, this William Brown married
Margaret Stock, so that his descendants inherited
Papley, Lilford (which he acquired in 1473)" and a
large estate in Warmington and the surrounding
country. He appears to have been an innkeeper in
Stamford, where he founded an almshouse called the
Bedehouse. He died 14 April, 1489,^' having made
a will in which he desired to be buried in Our Lady's
chapel in All Hallows', Stamford.^" The manor of
Papley was held of the abbot of Peterborough by
fealty only. Margaret, his widow and executrix,
survived but a short time, dying on 28 October, 1489.
The heir was their daughter Elizabeth, wife of John
Elmes, aged 48 and more.^" Margaret's will-' left
many gifts to churches, including a vestment of black
velvet for Warmington (cope, chasuble and two
tunicles) ; it mentions John Elmes the elder, my son,
and Elizabeth his wife, William, Katherine, John the
" Mis. Bks. (Land Rev.), 221, f. 321.
•» Pope Nicb. Tux (Rec. Com), 55.
•• Valor Ecil. (Rcc. Com), iv, 279.
•* Roger de Torpcl gave them landi
for the health of the loul of his wile
Mary in the 12th century, Pytchley,
Dk. of Fees, 33.
•• L. &■ P. Hen. Fill, xx (2),g. 496(7).
' Nortbants. ii, 480.
• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccczc, 48.
• Feet of F. Northantj, caie 171,
file 12, no. 222. ; alio Plac. de quo War.
{ Rec. Com.), 532.
• L.i>P. Hen. Fill, xxi (1), g. 718 (4).
• Mins. Accti. Hen. VIII, 7274.
• Soc. Antiq. MS. 60.
' Cal. Chart. 1327-41, p. 277.
' Feet of F. Northanti, ca«e 171, file 8,
no. 107; Pytchley, op. cit. 119.
> Red Bk. 619.
'° Pytchley, loc. cit.
" Cal. Chart, 1226-57, p. 20.
" Feet of F. Nortliants, case 173
file 28, no. 375. Martin was called to
warrant by Wiscard Ledet. Olhcr fines
occur in 53 Hen. Ill (883) and 23 Edw. I,
(337).
'• Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 248.
'* Sparks, lltst. Angl. Script, Swaffham.
" Ibid. 267.
" Cott. MS. Vcsp. E. xxii, f. 46.
" Feud. Aids, iv, 2S.
** Soc. Antiq. MS. 60.
'» Cott. MS. Clcop. C i.
" Bridges, llist. Northants, ii, 484.
" Feud. Aids, iv. 48.
" Feet of F. Northanti, case 179,
file 95, no. 139.
" De Banco R. 845 (Hil. 12 Edw. IV),
m. 21.
■* Cal. Inq. p.m. Henrv Vll. i, no. 476,
478.
"' P.C.C. 22 Mille*. He left 20J. a
year to the ancrcss at Stamford. An en-
graving of the brasi of William Brown
and his wife in All Hallows' Church
will be found in F. Peck's .-Jnnah oj Stam-
ford; also one of the brass of Margaiet
daughter of John and Elizabeth Elmes.
who died i August, 1471, and one of the
Bedehou&e seat, bearing the arms of
Elmes.
«• Cal. Inq. p.m. Ihn. VII^ i. no. 525,
533» 55'- ^^^ •* pedigree of Elmes,
see Metcalfe, Vistt. of Northanti^ ^S^li
p. 18.
^ P.C.C. 30 Milles.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
■4 f
0
a
♦*
4
0
i ■*
%
♦ •*
\0
0
0/
Elmes. Ermine two
burs sable each sprinkled
with elm leaves or.
younger, Joan and Isabel Elmes, Thomas, Margaret
and Jane f'azalcerley, and the executors were her
brother Thomas Stock, clerk, John Elmes and
William his son.
John Elmes, son of John Elmes of Henley, died
4 May, 1491, and it appears by the inquisition that
he had married Elizabeth by 1457 ; their son and
heir William was 27 years
old.-* Elizabeth and William
Elmes obtained the manor of
Papley and other estates from
Brown's trustee in 1495.-*
Thomas Stockdied 23 October,
1495, leaving as heirs his
sister Isabel Fazakerley and
his niece Elizabeth Elmes. ^*
Elizabeth survived till 1511,-"
but her son William Elmes,
of Stamford and the Inner
Temple, died in 1 504, having
by his will-'^ made many
charitable gifts, including one to Warmington.
The will mentions his moiher Elizabeth, his wife
Elizabeth and Joan Iwardby her mother, sons John
and Thomas, and daughters Elizabeth and Joan. He
desired to be buried in the Temple church in London.
His wife was one of the three daughters and coheirs
of John Iwardby of Great Missenden, Bucks, where
she was born 24 August, 1475.^^ She seems to have
died in 1526.^*
The son, described as John Elmes of Lilford, esq.,
made his will,'*^ a very long one, in No\'ember, 1540,
and it was proved 7 February, 1544-5. By it he left
jf 10 to his ' grandfather ' William Brown's almshouses
at Stamford and small gifts (including 6s. id. to War-
mington) to many churches, the gild of our Lady
at Oundle, etc. His son Edmond was under 22 years
of age, and other children and kinsfolk are mentioned ;
also lands in Papley, Ogerston, Elton, Fotheringhay
and Stamford. The executors were desired to make
reparation for any wrongdoing by him, and to give
knowledge of this ' about Oundle and Stamford,
where I shall be most defamed.' His wife, who sur-
vived, was Edith, daughter of John, lord Mordaunt
of Turvey, Beds. In 1539 charges had been brought
against him in the Star Chamber, which may explain
t)ic defamation mentioned in his will. The inhabi-
tants of Warmington and Barnwell claimed common
of pasture in these places and in Lilford and alleged
that Elmes had closed up highways in Papley, etc.,
converted arable into pasture and impounded their
cattle. He was learned in the law and a man of
great lands and substance. The witnesses for com-
plainants described Papley as a hamlet in War-
mington, and the inhabitants of Warmington had
common there till Elmes stopped them. Once there
had been twelve ploughs going in the fields of Papley,
but now only three. There had been ten houses of
husbandmen and four cottages in Papley, but only
two houses were now inhabited. Elmes had surcharged
the fields with cattle and sheep. He had stopped tiie
highway from Huntingdon to Fotheringhay called
Bradgate, and other roads.'"
The son Edmund succeeded, and made in 1579 a
settlement of his manors of Papley and Warmington
(this latter being the Stock estate)" ; and he died
12 March, 1601-2, holding these manors of the bishop
of Peterborough, having settled them on his second
son Thomas. The heir was a son John, then aged 40.-'*
No reason is given for thus giving them to a younger
son, but his widow Alice (sister of Oliver St. John
of Bletsoe) in her own will directed that her late
husband's will was to be carried out, and left household
stuff at Lilford to John on condition that he did not
disturb it ; Thomas was to have the household stuff
at Papley. Thomas Elmes, who thus succeeded, had
already several children — William, John, Edmund,
Thomas and Anthony being named.'*
A survey of Warmington and Papley in 1605 has
been cited above. Thomas Elmes complained as to
Papley, that the jury had done their work badly.
He said the cow pastures in Ogerstone Leyes were
in the waste of Papley manor between Goldingdale
gutter and Papley hedge. Ogerstone Leyes had been
common or several, according to the time of the year.
In 1573 Sir Walter Mildmay procured a commission
to have the bounds between Warmington and Papley
defined'"' and also obtained an exchange of lands,
acre for acre. After this exchange Warmington and
Papley did not intercommune. Ogerstone Leyes
(though in Papley) were then allotted to Warmington
for common of cattle, but the soil still belonged
to the lord of Papley, who felled the wood, etc. The
true and ancient bound of Papley and Warmington
was Goldingdale, not Lutton brook.*' Thomas
Elmes made settlements of the manor of Papley in
1615 and 1621-'-; and died at Lilford, 10 July, 1632.
.'\s already stated, he had divided his estates, leaving
the older manors of Lilford and Papley to his eldest
son William, then aged 40 or more, and the newly-
purchased manor of Warmington to the younger son
Thomas.*' William had in 1614 married Margaret,
sister of Sir Francis Goodwin. The manor of
Papley was held of the bishop of Peterborough in
socage. The rectory of Warmington descended
with it for a time. William Elmes suffered a recovery
of his manors of Papley, Lilford and Wigsthorpe
watermill, etc., in I632,''-* and died 17 April, 1641,
leaving a son and heir Arthur, aged only ten years.**
Arthur Elmes and Jane his wife were in 1663 still
in possession of the manor of Papley and the rectory
of Warmington.** Arthur died in that year and Jane
married Sir Francis Compton, the estate being sold in
1668 to Edward (Watson), lord Rockingham.*' Lilford
*• Cal. Inij. p.m. I/en. Vll, i. no. 592,
lie, relating only to Uifordihirc and
IJcrkihirc.
'• Feet of F. Divcri. Col. Trin. 10
Hen. VII.
" Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. VII. i. no. 1179.
Mil Undi in Warmington .ind Papley were
held of the abbot of Peterborough.
•' P.C.C. 1 Fetlipl.ice.
•• P.C.C. II llolgrave.
>> Cal. Irti/. p.m. Ilrn. I'll, i. n. 328,
1080 ; ii. n. 627.
" P.C.C. II Porch.
" P.C.C. 22 Pynney.
"Star Chamber Proc. lUn. \I1I,
23/29.
" Feet of I". Northanls. Mich. 21/22
Eli?..
•" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), cclxxiii, 89.
Will in I'.C.C. 7 Montague.
" P.C.C. <;7 Huddlc<ton.
"> ICxche. Spec. Com. 1658 (Northanti
16 F.Iiz.). The boundary at given was :
North from I'antworth Furret to Colder-
118
ingdalc, Brodegate w.iy, Losborrow
lladon, Archcsladc and Craneland.
«' Mis. llks. (Land Rev.), 221, f. 325.
*• Feet of F. Northantj, Trin. ijjai. I.,
Faiter, 19 Jal. I.
*' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccccxcii,
87.
" Kecov. R. Mich. 8 Chaj. I.
*' Clian. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dcxiv, 88.
" Feet of F. Norihanti, 'Fiin. 1658 ;
and Trin. 1 1; Chai. If.
«' Ibid. Mich. 2oCha». II.
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
WARMINGTON
descended separately. In 1708 Lewis, lord Rocking-
ham (son of Edward) was in possession,^* and in
1735 his grandson Lewis, earl of Rockingham.'"'
On his death in 17.^5 his brother Thomas (d. 1 746)
succeeded and left his estates to a kinsman, Lewis
Monson (afterwards Watson), created baron Sondes in
1760, who held Papley in 1751.^*' The same family'''
were in possession in 1785^'' and 1818.*^ Afterwards
Papley went to the FitzW'illiam family, one of whom
had married Anne, sister and coheir of Charles, 2nd
marquis of Rockingham, heir male of the Edward,
lord Rockingham of 1668. It was owned in 1864
\V*rsos, tarl of Rock-
ingham Argent a ihev-
iron azure engrailed
benseen three martleti
labU toitb three ires-
ceitti ttr on the cheveron.
FiriwiLLiAM. /.ozengy
urgent and gules.
by the Hon. George Wentworth-FitzWilliam, younger
son of Charles, 5th earl FitzW'illiam, whose son,
George Charles Wentworth-FitzWilliam, is the
present owner.
The church of ST. MART-IHE-
CIIURCH VIRGIN consists of chancel, 42 ft. 6 in.
by 19 ft., clearstoricd nave of five bays,
73 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft. 6 in., north and south aisles each
13 ft. 6 in. wide, north and south porches, and west
tower 13 ft. 6 in. square, surmounted by a broach
spire. The width across the nave and aisles is
47 ft. 9 in. All these measurements are internal.
An organ chamber was added in 1893 in the angle of
the chancel and south aisle.
The church is built of Barnack ragstone, plastered
internally, and has plain parapets throughout. The
chancel is covered with grey slates, the rest of the
roof-i being leaded. With the exception of the nave
arcades and certain minor alterations named below,
the building is all of 13th century date, a very beauti-
ful example of the work of that period, the plan of
which has remained practically unaltered. Shortly
before 1850 the interior was partially restored,
numerous coats of whitewash and a west gallery
being then removed^'' : a more extensive and careful
restoration of the whole building was carried out in
1876.
The nave arcades belong to an earlier building and
date from c. 1 180-90, at which time aisles were prob-
bably first added to a 12th century church. The tall
and slender columns are octagonal on the north side
and on the south cylindrical in section, with responds
to correspond. The bases rest on plinths, probably
fragments of the walls of tlie earlier cliurch, and have
good water mouldings. The capitals, which on both
sides have octagonal abaci, differ considerably. The
eastern respond and the two eastern columns on the
north side, and the western respond and eastern column
on the south side have scallopped capitals. The
third column and west respond on tiic north and the
second and third columns on the south have water-
leaf foliage, the northern column and respond having
volutes in addition. The western column on the
north side has well-developed crocketed foliage,
while the western column and eastern respond on the
soutii have plain early gothic mouldings, the respond
having also an extra band of moulding in the base.
Tiic arches are high and pointed with small hood-
moulds and consist of two orders of square outline
with I.ecled edge-rolls and broad flat sofTits.
About the middle of the 13th century the original
chancel was lengthened and rebuilt, the aisles were
rebuilt and widened, a clearstory was added to the
nave, and the tower, spire and porches were erected.
The south aisle seems to have been set out first,
but the whole of the work was planned with strict
regard to the spacing of the existing arcades of the
nave. The south doorway, covered by a magnificent
vaulted porch, is in the middle of the length of the
wall, with two three-light windows on each side, and
the north door is directly opposite in the middle bay
of the aisle, covered by a vaulted but less lofty porch.
In the 14th century new buttresses were added to
the aisle walls, and the east wall of the chancel seems
to have been rebuilt in the 15th century with a window
of poor design, and other windows were inserted in
the south wall. New buttresses were also added to
the chancel, a three-light window inserted in the
west wall of the south aisle, and a stair-turret, giving
access to the roof, made at the north-west angle of
the north aisle.
The chancel is of three bays and retains two
original windows on the north side, each of two-lights
divided by a slender mullion and with a cusped
quatrcfoil in tlie head. Their hoods are continued
as a string along the upper part of the wall inside
and out, and the windows are extremely plain in
detail. Below the sills is another string, continued
round *he whole chancel and raised to form a hood
to the round-headed doorway of a former sacristy
and to the pointed priest's doorway in the south
wall. Both these doorways are now blocked. The
east window is four-centered and of five cinquefoiled
lights without tracery. The windows on the south
side are of similar type, the first of two and the others
of three lights, and at the west end of the wall a
modern arch opens to the organ chamber, in which
the displaced window has been re-used. No traces
are visible in the chancel of either piscina or sedilia,
but at the east end of the north wall is a rectangular
aumbry, and on each side of the east window is a
13th century image bracket, that at the north end
elaborately carved but in a mutilated state, the other
moulded. A stone bench remains along the lower
** Recov. R. Eait., 7 .\nnc.
«• Ibid. nil. 9 Ceo. II.
•• Ibid. Eait. 24 Geo. II.
" Lewii lord Sondet, d. 1765 — 1.
Lewii Thomas, d. 1806 — t. Lewii
Richard, d. 1836. The Rockingham
eitatei then went to hi: youngest brother,
Richard Watson, who d. 1852, leaving a
•on and heir, Wentworth, born 1848.
»■ Recov. R. Mich. 26 Geo. III.
" Ibid. Trm. 58 Geo. III.
" W. Caveler, Ar<h. llluslralicitt of
h'armington Church (1850), p. 9. The
drawings are from sketches made in 1847.
H9
The plates, eighteen in number, include
elevations, sections and details. The
restoration of the chancel in 1876 was
carried out under the direction of Ben-
jamin Fcrrcy and that of the nave and
the rest of the church by Sir Gilbert
Scott,
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
part of the north and south walls, and against the
north wall is a large table tomb, with dowel holes
at the corners.'^ The chancel arch is of two moulded
orders, the inner one resting on slender detached
shafts with moulded bands half-way up and un-
restored foliated capitals ; the outer order dies into
the wall. The roof of tlie chancel dates from the
restoration of 1876, when it took the place of a plaster
ceiling and flat roof which had apparently been erected
in the 18th century.**
The nave has a remarkable timber inner roof of
13th century date, in imitation of stone vaulting, with
ridge rib and two diagonals in each bay, the spiringers
of which are carried on stone shafts resting on corbel
heads in the spandrels of the arcades. The capitals
of these shafts have foliage which shows a strong
naturalistic tendency," and the bosses of the wooden
grouped lancets with moulded mullions and jambs
under a containing arch or label. Externally the
detail is fairly elaborate, especially in the windows
east of the porch, which are richly ornamented with
dog-tooth and have jamb-shafts with foliated capitals,
but internally the openings are simply splayed, with
chamfered rear-arches. There is also a small window
of two lights over the doorway. The east window of
the aisle, now opening to the organ chamber, is of
five lights, with I3lh century jamb-shafts, but its
mullions at a later date were continued upward to
meet the arch. A string, like that of the chancel,
is continued at sill level round both aisles.
The south doorway is of three moulded orders on
jamb-shafts with moulded capitals and bases, and the
porch has an internal wall-arcade of three moulded
arches on each side set on a bench table. The oak
'iww^m
North Aisle
:m:;v;:;;:j§:::::;:::::i§::::v:::v.[oirr:::±t{41
Nave
ifflF^ai
:;::ii:::::::;:[oi:;:::;".::@::::;;:::g
South Aisle
Pi^iX3lll|nMfez^||'l|||[; Bi!!5D
10 s o
10
20 5p
JE^i^
-S
Scale of Feet ' ^p^:Vl|!||p
Plan of VVarmington Church
tn (1180-1190
6« 131!! Century
C_ ill' I!! Century
S 15!!! Century
□Modern
diagonals are formed by grotesque heads and carved
foliage. The ribs are deep and massive with cham-
fered edges. At the east end of the nave are two
small sexfoiled circular openings lighting the space
between the outer and inner roofs*' ; the pitch of the
outer roof, always low, has been preserved.
The windows of the aisles differ considerably in
detail. The east window of the north aisle is of
tracery formed by the curving and intersection of the
mullions, but all the others*" on tliis side arc of two
lights similar to those on the north side of the chancel,
and the clerestory windows on both sides are of
similar type, but smaller. In the south aisle the
windows on each side of the doorway consist of three
door is original and retains plain 13th century hinges.
The porch is covered by a single quadripartite vault
with chamfered ribs springing from the end shafts
and meeting in a carved boss. The outer opening
has an arch of three moulded orders on jamb-shafts
with moulded capitals, bases and mid-bands, the
outer order being enriched with dog-tooth. On the
inside there are two chamfered orders only. The
north doorway is of a single moulded order and hood-
mould, on attached jamb-shafts with moulded capitals
and bases, and the porch opening is of two orders, the
outer on engaged and the inner on detached shafts, all
with moulded capitals and bases.*" The porch walls are
plain and the ribs of the vault die out in the angles.
'' Tht top i> 10 ft. 7 in. by 4 ft. ancJ
9 in. thick, chamfered on the uncleriidc.
It may have been the alt.ir slab of the
chancel, but there are no coniccration
croiici viiiblc. It ii deicribcd by Bridget
ai ' a free itonc monument covered with a
rough »tone, on which have been por-
craiti and armt in brail * : //rir. of
Ncriiaitu, ii. 482.
" Cavcler in 1850 wrote, ' the original
roof of the chancel has been removed,
and a Hat plaster ceiling with large
beami lubititutcd, cutting acrosi the
chancel arch, the upper part of which
appears on the outside of the building,
above the chancel roof ' ; op. cii. 9.
*' Molt of tht-m have been much re-
stored, but three at least arc left untouched.
120
^* 'I'hcre arc also imall circular openings
between the clearstory windows, lighting
the roof space.
'• hxccpt a small single quatrefoil
opening over the doorway.
•® The outer order only i^ moulded on
the exterior ; both are chamfered inside
the porch.
will
SSHrsSrit-^?^-
i
w
h
u
o
1-
o
o
o
o
POLEBROOK HUNDRED
WARMINGTON
At the east end of the south aisle there was an
altar, with a leJge for an image in the soutli-east
corner, and the piscina niche in the south wall has a
rounded trefnil opening with a triangular head, in
the tympanum of which is an octofoiled circle. West
of this is a tomb recess in the wall, now half blocked
up, and there is another recess in the same wall west
of the doorway. In each of these recesses part of a
13th century grave slab is exposed.*'
The tower is low and massive and of three stages
with moulded plinth and square angle buttresses.
The elaborate west door-vay has an inner trefoilcd
head set within an outer arch of three moulded orders
on jamb-shafts with moulded capitals and bases,
the whole profusely ornamented with dog-tooth.
In the lower stage, north and south, is a tall round-
headed window, and in the middle stage a quatre-
foiled circle on each face. The bell-chamber windows
are of two lights deeply set, with a quatrefoil in the
spandrel, dog-tooth ornament, and jamb-shafts with
moulded capitals and bases. The spire is low, but
well proportioned to the tower. It rises from a corbel
table of masks and has three tiers of lights of somewhat
disproportionate height. The doorway to the vice,
in the south-west corner, has a rounded head and the
arch into the nave is of three chamfered orders,
the outer springing from small moulded corbels,
the others resting on half octagonal jambs round which
the mouldings of the corbels are continued ; the
jambs have bases with water-moulding and stand on
very large plinths.
The stair to the rood loft is at the south-east corner
of the north aisle, and the doorway remains in the
wall of the nave above. The whole of the upper part
of the existing rood screen dates only from 1876,
before which time " a portion of the base " only
remained, in the panels of which were some vestiges
of colour.*^ The original work, which is of 15th
century date, has been restored and the whole is
richly coloured and gilded. The pulpit, similarly
restored, appears to be of about the same date ; it
has six panelled sides, with painted figures of our
Lord and St. John the Baptist. A handsome Jacobean
screen, extensively restored, incloses the eastern
bay of the north aisle, which contains a late gothic
table tomb, said to have been erected by Sir Robert
Kirkham," and an alabaster mural monument to
Thomas Elmes, of VVarmington (died 1664), his wife
Ann (died 1686) and son William (died 1653).
The font has an octagonal bowl with trefoiled
panels, on a pedestal dated 1662, with the initials
S.S., W.B. ; it has a plain flat cover.
The tower contains six bells, the treble being an
addition in 1912'' to a former ring of five, the second"'
and tenor of which had been recast by Mears and
Stainbnnk in 1876. The present second (original
treble) is dated 1670, the fourth 1604, and the fifth
is by ilenry Penn, of Peterborough, 1710.°*
The plate consists of a silver cup and cover paten c.
1570, a silver flagon of 1736 given by Mrs. Anna Maria
Compton, and a silver plate of 1834."
The registers before 1812 arc as follows : (i) all
entries 1558-1687 ; (ii) all entries 1688-1718 ; (iii)
baptisms and burials I7l()-l8l2, marriages 1719-
1754 ; (iv) marriages 1754-1802 ; (v) marriages 1802-
1812.
The advowson, like the manor, bc-
.inrOJl'SON longed to the monks of Peterborough,
and they presented the rectors. Giles
do Spolcto, one of the Legate Otho's clerks, was rector
in 1238, but not being resident, a " vicar," or deputy,
Thomas de Wudeston, chaplain, was appointed for
Giles's life ; he was to have all the altarage."' Ellis
de Bedingham, a judge without a taint, was rector in
1281 ; he was buried at Bottisham (Cambs.)*'
In 1 291 the value of the rectory was estimated at
j^38 a year, out of which a pension of 261. 8tJ. was
paid to the abbot of Peterborough.'" In 1 316 the rec-
tory was appropriated to the abbey, and a vicarage
was ordained."
On the dissolution of the abbey the rectory came
to the Crown. A lease of it was granted in 1595 to
Thomas Elmes,'- who in 1609 obtained it in fee, a
condition being that he paid ^10 a year to the vicar
and j^24 to the King." The advowson of the vicarage
was reserved. The rectory descended with the manor
of Papley to Arthur Elmes, who in 1654 sold or mort-
gaged it to Sir John Trevor.''' Sir P'rancis Compton
and Jane his wife (daughter of Sir John Trevor and
widow of A. Elmes) passed it to trustees in 1668,'''
and in 1701 James Compton had the tithes in Warm-
ington, Papley and Eaglethorp.'" Mrs. Anne Comp-
ton, widow of James, son of Sir Francis Compton,
was the lay rector in 1711." In 1656 an augmentation
of £20 a year for the minister was approved," but this
would not continue after the Restoration. Soon after-
wards the rectory was subdivided. The separate tithes
of Papley were acquired by Lord Rockingham, owner
of that manor, in 1704,'* and those of Eaglethorp
were held by William Whitwell and his wife in 1739 ;'"
the residue was probably the " moiety of the rectory "
which occurs in a fine of 1719 between Francis Cud-
worth Masham and Nathaniel Gower, clerk, and
Frances his wife.*' In 1775 John Williamson acquired
the rectory from William Compton and Catherine his
wife.'2 The tithes had been commuted in 1774, when
the Inclosure was made, excepting those of Eagle-
thorp.
The rent of ^^24 reserved to the Crown when the
rectory was sold, was granted out in l6l9,'''' and came
•' The stoncj arc moulded on the edge
and have a cross with shaped ornament
similar to that on a slab at Titchmarsh.
•" Caveler, op. cit. 9.
•' Bridges, lltst. oj Northant:^ ii. 4S2
where it is described as " an altar tomb
of grey marble, covered with a grey slab,
round the verge of which was an inscription
in brass and on the sides three escutcheons
of arms, all of which arc now torn off."
•* " In memory of William 3rd Earl of
Carysfort K.P. who restored the church
in 1S76 " : inscription on bell.
" Present third.
"• The inscriptions on the old ring of
five are given in North, Cb. Bclb oj
Northants, 429.
" Markham, Ch. /'laicofNorihanis, 299.
" Rot. Rob. GrosieUite (Line. Rcc.
Snc), 170, 192.
" Bridges, Hist. Nortbanls, ii, 4S3 ;
F088, Judges, iii, 52.
" Pope Xirb. Tax. (Rec. Com), 39.
'* Bridges, op. cit. ii, 480, quoting the
Lincoln Registers.
" Pat R. 37 Elii. pt. 5.
" Ibid. 7 Jas. I, pt. 39 i Cat. S. P.
Do:n. 1C03-IO, p. 496.
121
" Fret of K. Northants, Mich. 1654.
" Ibid. Midi. 20 Chas. II. Thomas
Elmes was vouchee in the accompanying
recovery.
" Feet of F. Northants, Easier 13
Will. III.
" Bridges, Hist. Northants, ii, 4S0.
" Cal. S. P. Dom. 1655-56, p. 331.
'• Feet of F. Northants, Mil. 2 Anne.
'» Ihid. nil. 12 Geo. II
" Ibid. Mich. 6 Ceo. I.
»' Ibid. Trin. 15 Geo. III.
•• Pat. R. 17 Jas. I, pt. 3.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
to the Elmes family, becoming divided, like the manor,
among the five daughters of Thomas Elmes, who died
in 1664.'* A fifth part of it was acquired by William
Walcott in 1709.'^
Sir Walter Mildmay of Apethorpe'* acquired the
advowson of the vicarage, and it descended regularly
to the earls of Westmorland. It was sold with the
Apethorpe property in 1904 to Sir Leonard Brassey who
exchanged the advowsons of Warmington and King's
Cliff with the Bishop of Peterborough for those of
Apethorpe and Woodnewton. The Bishop is the
present patron. About 1880 the vicar had £2^ a year
from the Tithe Rent Charge, and £106 rent from the
44 acres of glebe. The net income is now^^lSs, with
a house."
According to Bridges (171 1) there ' was anciently St.
Andrew's chapel [near the manor-house], of which no
vestige hath been remaining within any person's
memory, nor any mention occurs in any record.' Wil-
liam Proby had paid ^4 i6j. a year out of Eaglethorpe,
which was supposed to be the purparty of this chapel ;
the rent was then paid to Lord Rockingham, who
owned part of the impropriated rectory by purchase
from Mr. Whitwell of Oundle, who had purchased
from Mrs. Compton.**
The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel, which was
rebuilt in 1 88 1.
Three almshouses for aged widows were built in
i860 by the Ladies Fanny and Charlotte Proby.
Poor's money. A sum of £100, for-
CHJRITIES merly given for the poor by benefactors
whose names are unknown, was placed
out in 1754 on security of the tolls of the turnpike
road from Peterborough to Wellingborough. The
endowment is now represented by ^^113 l<)s- 2J. Con-
sols producing £i ijs. od. annually. The income is
distributed in money to poor men who have attained
the age of 65. In 1924 there were 13 recipients.
The Mossop Fund was founded by Declaration of
Trust dated September 1879. The endowment consists
of ;(^30l 8.t. \d. Consols producing £j \0!. id. yearly.
By his Will proved 23 September 1908 the Rev.
Charles Henry Ward Capron gave ^1,000 to the Vicar
and Churchwardens upon trust to apply the income in
the distribution of coal to the poor on or about St.
Thomas's Day. The money was invested in £l,\l'!
14J. io<^. India 3 per cent. Stock, producing ^f 34 14J. %d.
yearly. In December 1924 4 cwts. of coal were
delivered to each of 98 recipients, by the Vicar and
Churchwardens in respect of this Charity and the
Mossop Fund.
By his Will proved 27 August 1888 Daniel John
Baxter gave ^^loo to the Oundle Wesleyan Methodist
Circuit Superintendent and Circuit Stewards and the
Chapel Stewards and Society Stewards of the Wes-
leyan Methodist Chapel at Warmington upon trust to
apply the income for the benefit of poor Widowers
and Widows without respect of creed, sect or other-
wise. The endowment consists of £()6 is. 6d. India
3J per cent. Stock with the Official Trustees of Charit-
able Funds producing ^3 ji. ^d. annually in dividends.
The income is distributed in money to about 25 re-
cipients.
By her Will proved at Peterborough 13 April 1 891
Mrs. Elizabeth Mossop gave a sum of money to the
Vicar and Churchwardens now represented by ^93
21. 5(/. India 3^ per cent. Stock producing ^3 5f. ^d.
yearly, the income to be distributed to poor Widows
on St. Thomas's Day. There are about 18 re-
cipients.
The several sums of Stock are with the Official
Trustees of Charitable Funds.
" Teet of F. Northants, Easter,
20 Chas. II and Hil. i Anne.
•• Ibid. Trin. 7 Anne.
•• lie died in 15S9 holding intrr alia the
advr>w8on of W'armington, and left a
ion Anthony ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii).
ccxxiii, 61. This son died similarly seised
in 1617, and his heir was his daughter
M?.ry, wife of Sir Fr.Tncis Fane, after-
wards earl of Westmorland ; Chan. Inq.
p.m. (Ser. ii), ccclxxvi, 94.
«' Crockford.
*' Bridges, Wnr. Northaiils,\i, 4%2. The
sum appears to be a fifth part of the ^24
a year due to the Crown from the tithe-
owner.
122
THE HUNDRED OF NAVISFORD
CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF
CLAPTON THR.-VPSTON
PILTON TITCHMARSH
STOKE DOYLE WADENIIOE
THORPE ACHURCH
The Hundred of Narresford or Navisford was one of the eight hundreds
held by the Abbey of Peterborough, which were confirmed to it in the charter
of Richard I.' In tlie Domesday Survey, the four parishes of Clapton,
-r ^
/ .STOKE DOYLB^» ^
Index Map to the Hundred of Navisford
Thrapston, Titchmarsh and Wadenhoe are given under the definite heading
of Navisford Hundred ^ and there is no reason to think that Thorpe Achurch
and Pilton, which were held of the Abbey, did not belong to it. Stoke Doyle
is given under the heading of ' VVicesle,'^ but this apparently is a mistake.
The Abbot, however, seems to have held only one court for the Hundreds of
Polebrook and Navisford, so that the seven parishes frequently appear under
' Cal. Chart. IZ26-57, p. 19; Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 118, 124-125.
^ V.C.H. Northants. i, 309a, 333(3, 349^, 3S0(J.
* Ihid. ii^a.
123
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Polebrook.'* A part of Catworth in Huntingdonshire was held with Thrapston,
and was within the Hundred of Navisford/^
After the dissolution of the Abbey, the issues of the courts of the two
hundreds were returned jointly, and only one bailiff and one steward are
named. ^ Henry VIII granted the Hundred of Navisford for life to Queen
Catherine Howard,^ but after her death it remained with the Crown'
until i6i I, when James I granted it to John Eldred and George Whitmore^
to hold with all the privileges formerly belonging to the Abbey of
Peterborough.^ In 1 6 1 3 the two grantees sold it to Sir Edward Montagu
of Boughton.i" Shortly afterwards a writ of quo warranto was issued against
Sir Edward regarding his rights in the Hundreds of Polebrook, Huxloe and
Navisford which were duly allowed to him.^^ In the early i8th century his
descendant the Duke of Montagu held it, and the court of the hundred was
held at Thrapston. ^^ It afterwards passed to the Duke of Buccleuch and
Queensberry,
^Cf. Chron. PetTob. p. 118.
<* Buccleuch Coll. Ser. Chron. 353 ; V.C.H. Northunts. i, 365^-.
'" ydor Ecclts. (Rcc. Com.), iv, pp. 279, 280, 282.
' Close R. 2,165 ; ^- ^1^^ P- ^''"- fm, xvi, p. 716; Pat. R. no. 695.
' P.R.O. Court R. ptf. 19s, no. 56.
' Pat. R. (no. 1905), 9 Jas. T, pt. 6.
' Close R. 2,165 ; Anglo-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 220; Cal. Pat. 1226-57, P- '9: P^^- ^■
38 Hen. VI, pt. ii, m. 8.
•"Close R. 2,165.
" Buccleuch Cell. Ser. Chron. 387.
'- Bridges, Hist. Northants. ii, 264.
124
NAVISFORD HUNDRED
CLAPTON
Cloton (xi cent.), Clopton, Clotton (xii cent.), Clop-
ton, Cl.ipton (xiii cent.).
The parish of Clapton lies on the eastern side of
tlie county, the Huntingdonshire county boundary
marking its eastern limits. It covers 1,952 acres of
land of which over half is laid down in grass. A stream
crosses its western side and here the land is only
some 100 ft. above the ordnance datum, but eastward
near the church it rises to about 250 ft.* The sub-
soil is mainly Oxford clay, with some stone marls.'^ No
railway crosses the parish and the nearest station is at
Thorpe, on the London Midland and Scottish Rail-
way. The vill.ige lies to the east of the main road from
Kimbolton to Oundlc, with the church and rectory a
little to the south. Tliere is a homestead moat in
Ringsdale's wood,' and SkulLing Dudley Coppice pre-
sumably gained its name from one of the former lords
of the manor. A water-mill at Clapton is mentioned in
1397.* There were formerly brick-works in the
parish.
The manorial history of CLAPTON or
MANORS CLOPTON in the years succeeding the
compilation of Domesday Book is dif-
ficult to unravel, the confusion arising from the fact
that Eustace the Sheriff of Huntingdonshire held part
of Clapton in chief of the King and part as a tenant of
the Abbey of Peterborough. The manor of Clapton,
later held in demesne of the Abbey, developed from
land forming part of the Abbey holding, but the
manor of Clapton Hotots or Hotofts was formed from
land belonging to both of the
Domesday holdings.
In 1086, Eustace held 3
hides, 3 virgates and \ part of
J hide of land, of the Abbey
of Peterborough.' No tenant
is named in the 12th century
Survey of the county,' but in
1125 Eustace had been suc-
ceeded by Roger de Lovetot,
who held 2 knights' fees of the
Abbev,' containing as appears
later land in Clapton, Pole-
brook, Catworth, Winwick and
Remington.* In 1 146 William
de Lovetot his son was the Peterborough tenant.*
William had two sons, Richard and Nigel, the
Hallamshire (co. York) fees passing to Richard and
the Southoe (co. Hunts) and Peterborough fees, in-
cluding Clapton, going to Nigel. There is some
uncertainty about the family of Nigel, who is said
Lovetot. Arg.'nt aUon
parted fessewtse, gules
and sable.
to have had five sons, namely, Richard, Roger, Nigel,
Robert and William. The identity of Richard and
Roger has been confused, but it appears that Richard
died childless before 1192. Roger seems to have
had six children, namely, William, who died child-
less,'* Nigel, a clerk, who before 1201 held Clapton
and later gave it to his brother Geoffrey for life.
Geoffrey refused to pay the relief and the Abbot
of Peterborough seized his land. Both Nigel and
Geoffrey died without direct heirs, and their property
passed to their three sisters or their heirs, whose
homage and relief was refused by the Abbot because
the earlier relief was still unpaid. '^ The matter was
apparently settled and Clapton passed to Elias de
Mundevillc or Amundeville, the son of the eldest
sister. Amice or Avice, wife of Ralph de Amundeville,
and to William Patrick, the son of the youngest sister
Alice, who had married William Patrick. i'' Rose, the
second sister, was still living at the time of Nigel's
death in 1219,'' but no part of Clapton was assigned
to her.''' Before 1234, William Patrick granted his
moiety to his sister Margery, the wife, first of William
de Vernon and secondly of John de Littebury.'^ After
the death of her first husband, both she and her
cousin, Nigel de Mundeville, the brother and heir
of Elias, granted their moieties in Clapton, consisting
of the homage and service of their sub-tenants, to John
de Caux, abbot of Peterborough (l 250-1 262)." Before
1259, however, Margery and John de Littebury, her
second husband, sold to Richard de Clare, Earl of
Gloucester," the services of Thomas de Hotot, a sub-
tenant in Clapton, and other properties. This sale led
to a claim being made in 1347 by Hugh Audley, Earl
of Gloucester (whose wife had inherited part of the
Honour of Clare), to the overlordship of land in Clap-
ton held by the Abbot. A lawsuit ensued'* and the
case is interesting as showing the care with which the
Abbot's defence was prepared from researches among
public records. The abbot was able to prove that the
Earl could have no claim in the land since Margery
and John de Littebury had no right to it at the time
of the sale to Richard, Earl of Gloucester. Although
in 1372 the land in Clapton was returned amongst the
fees held by the Earl of Stafford,'* the Abbey was
apparently left in undisputed possession of the Love-
tot rights there.
The history of the sub-tenants of the Lovetot's lands
is confused. In 1086 a nameless knight appears as the
tenant under Eustace the Sheriffj^" who may perhaps
be identified with Alured, Eustace's tenant in the
other holding in Clapton.*' In c. 1 125, Walter son of
' Ord. Surv.
• V.C.H. Soribanls. i. Geological
Map.
* Ibid. ii,4i2.
* Col. Pal. 1396-9, p. 184.
' V.C.H. Soitbants. i, 316*.
• Ibid. p. 366. Bridget {Hist. Sn'tbants.
ii, 367) give* the early history of Clapton
from a MS. in the possession of the Dud-
leys, the lords of the manor. In the
nuin facts the manuscript is corrobor-
ated by other contemporary evidence.
The statement, however, that Roger de
Lovetot was enfeofled by Abbot Turold
(1069-109S) docs not scciii correct, as his
name would in that case have appeared in
the Survey.
" Cbron. Petrob. (Camden Soc). p. 173.
'Soc. Antiq. MS. 38,1. 64.
' S. Gunton, Hist, oj Cb. of Peter-
bjfeugb, 129; Thoroton, H.st. of Notts, i,
63.
*" The above descent is taken from
Pytchlcy, Bk. 0/ Fees (Northants Rcc.
Soc), 95fl, 96«, where authorities are
quoted. See also Rot. de Obi. et ? tn.
(Rec. Com.), 149.
" Egerton MS. (II. M ) No. 2733,
f. 129.
" I'ytchley, Bk. of Fees (Noilh.inii
125
Rcc. Soc), p. 541. Excerpt, i Rot. Fin.
(Rcc. Com.), i, p. 32 ; Soc. Antiq. MS. 38
f. 64; ibid. MS. 60, f. 156^.
" Excerpt. > Rot. Ftn. (Rec. Com.) i,
p. 32.
'* Soc Antiq. MS. 38, f, 64.
" Excerpt. > Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), i,
p. 255 ; Soc. Antiq. MS. 38, f. 64.
'• ("ylchlcy, op. cit. 96 ; Soc Antiq.
MS. 38, f. 64. "Ibid.
'» Ihid. ft. 62-121J.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 45 Edw. Ill (iil
nos.), no. 62.
" f'.C.H. Northants. i,ii('h.
" Ibid. 3:ca.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Alured, or Walter de Clapton, was the sub-tenant of the
Abbey fee. He held one hide and one virgate of Roger
de Lovetot and 3J hides of the abbey.^ Walter was
succeeded by his son William, who alienated a great
deal of his land in Clapton. His only child was his
daughter Emma,^' but she died without descendants ^•'
as his heirs were Alice the wife of Robert de Hotot,
Denise, the wife of Robert de HofFord, and Rohesia or
Royce, probably the daughters of his brother Robert.-^
The manor of CLAPTON HOTOTS may be traced
to the grant of lands partly in demesne and partly in
villeinage made before 1 190 ^^ by William de Clapton to
Thomas, the son of Alice de Hotot.^' The manor was
originally held of the Lovetots and the homage and
service of a later Hotot was granted by Margery de
Vernon and Nigel de Mundeville to the Abbey of
Peterborough,^ but when the latter claimed, in 1288,^°
the homage of the sub-tenant, it appeared that between
tlie death of Nigel de Lovetot and the grant to the
Abbey,^ the homage and service due had already
been granted to a mesne lord, an ancestor of David
de Fletewik, lord of Ringsdon.^* The latter, however,
granted his rights in Clapton to the Abbot, ^^ who from
that lime was the immediate lord of the manor.^*
Thomas de Hotot, the original grantee, who was
living in 1 190, was succeeded by his son Richard, the
tenant in 1243.^^ Richard is said to have bought back
part of the land given by William de Clapton to the
nuns of Chicksand, as well as the share of William's
lands which passed to his sister Denise and to her
granddaughter Isabella, the wife of Hugh de Rings-
don. -"^ Before 1254 another Thomas appears, ^^ and in
1272 he made a settlement of the manor, with re-
mainder to his son William,^' who succeeded him in
1288.^ William's son Robert did homage to the
Abbot in 1311,^* and his grandson, another Robert, in
1322.'"' The latter was presumably the tenant in
1346.*' He seems to have been succeeded by another
Robert, at whose dwelling in Clapton there was a
chapel which, with other chapels and oratories in the
parish drew the parishioners from the parish church,
and was interdicted in I369.''2 His daughter and
heir married Richard Dudley of Barnwell. ''^ In 141 2
and 1428 John Scot held the manor presumably as a
trustee,'** since Dudley afterwards enfeoffed other
trustees, from whom his son and heir William, be-
tween 1467 and 1472 liad difBculty in obtaining livery
on coming of age.""^ William died seised of the manor
in 1505, when his heir was his grandson William, tlicn
a minor.''* The manor was held by the Dudleys, passing
from father to son, with one temporary break, until the
1 8th century. Their names
were Thomas,*' Edward who
succeeded before 1588** and
died in 1608,'" Edward, who
died in 1632,^" and a third
Edward, who died in 1641,
leaving four daughters and
heirs, all under age.^^ The
manor, however, was settled
on their uncle William, to
enable him after their father's
death to pay the portions left
to them.^- William Dudley
was created a baronet in
1660.*^ His son Matthew
and grandson William succeeded him, hut the latter,
who had no children,^'' sold the manor in 1724 to
William Peere Williams. ^^ His son Hutchins Williams
was created a baronet in 1747. On the death of the
third and last baronet. Sir Booth Williams, in 1784,''''
it passed to the nephew of the first baronet. Admiral
Peere Williams, who assumed the name of Freeman
DuDLiv of Barnwell.
Azure a cheveron he-
tvieen three Horn* beads
razed or.
WiLMAMS. Gules a
wolf coming out of bis
den argent.
Freeman. .
lozenges or.
three
in 1822." His descendants hold it till 1906, when
Augustus Freeman died unmarried. It was then sold
to Sir John Brunner, who settled it upon his son in
law, the Hon. Audley Blyth, in March 1906. He died
21 March 1908, and was succeeded by his widow, from
whose trustees it was purchased in 1910 by Thomas
William Buckley, M.D., J. P., the present owner.
The third heir of William de Clapton m.iy be
identified with Rohesia, lady of Polcbrook, who
renounced her claim in the advowson of the cluirch
of Clapton in
her quitclaim.-'''
" I'.C.II. Xorlhants. i, 366 ; Chroi:.
Petrob. 173. In the Dudley MS. Alured
is called Alfred dc Crauntkort and his
family is said to have taken the name
of Clapton.
" Bridges, Hist. Nortbanis, ii, 369 ;
Soc. Antiq. MS. 38, f. 68 j Cal. Curtn
Regis, i, pp. 25, 14S.
"Soc. Antiij. MS. 38, f. 06, 121J;
Bridges, loc. cit.
«* Cal. Curia Regis, i, pp. 25, 117, 119,
253 ; Bridges, loc. cit. gives them as
sisters of Willi.im, but from the pleadings
in the Curia Regis Royce is said to be the
niece of William and daughter of Robert
de Clapton.
" SwafFham Reg. clxxi.
" Bridges, op. cit. i, 368.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 3K, f. 66. See above.
'• CBron. I'ftrob. (Camden Soc.) 142-3.
"Soc. Antiq. MS. 38,1.66.
•' Cote. MS. CIcop. C ii, f. 105./.
" Ibid. f. Ill ; Chron. Petrob. (Camden
Soc), pp. 142-3.
" Cott. MS. Vesp. E xxii, f. 49;
FaiJ. Aids, iv, p. 448 ; Chan. Inq.
p.m. (Ser. ii), xix, 129.
" EgcrtonMS. (B.M.), 2733,f. 141^.
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 369 ; cf. Feet of
F. .Northants. llil. 24llcn. HI.
•• S,.c. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 248./.
•' I'cct of F. Northants. East. 56
Hen. III.
" Chron. Petrob. 142-3; William seems
tfi have paid huinage again in 1301, pcr-
li:.ps after the dispute with David dc
I'letcwlk was finally settled (Cott. MS.
\'e!p. F. xxii,f. 49).
••Cott. MS. Vcsp. Exxii. f. 110.
" Ibid, xxi, f. 80 ; Soc. Antiq. MS. 38,
I. 65. ♦' Feud. Aids, iv, 44S.
" J. inc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bucking-
ham, 67.
" Mctcilfr, Visit. Northantt. 15.
126
1219.'* Her son Robert ratified
It seems probable that she was
•* Fend, .■tuts, vi, 501 ; ibid. Iv, 48.
" Early Chan. I'roc. bdle. 38, no. 114.
*" Clian. Inq. p.m. (Scr. II) xlx, 128.
*' Meicalfe, loc. cit. ; Northants .V. and
Q. (new Sor.) iv, 52. " Ibid. 45, 46.
*• Chan. Intj. p.m. (Scr. ii) ccc v, 129.
^*' Ibid, cccclxvill, 93.
" Ibid. dcxvll,4i.
"Ibid.; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trln.
1649; ibid. Mich. 1651; ibid. Mich.
1654 ; ibid. Trin. 165;.
"' Ci.E.C. Complete Baronetage,\\\. p. loo.
" Ibid.
" I'cet of F. Northants, Trin. to Ceo. I
ibid. llil. I Geo. II.
" G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, v. 94.
" Burke, Landed Gentry, 1921 ; Recov.
K. Trin. 24 Ceo. Ill; Feet of F.
Northants. Trin. 2<) Geo. III.
•• Swatlham Reg. ccl. b. ; Feet of F.
Northants. Trln. 3 Hen. HI.
'• Swatlham Reg. cclxi. b.
NAVISFORD HUNDRED
CLAPTON
the wife of Hugh le Fleming who held land in
Clapton of the Lovetots.'" Her lands in Clapton
presumably followed the history of the manor of Pole-
brook (y.f.). which was bought by Abbot John de
Cau7. from Robert son of Hugh le Fleming." They
were assigned to the Almoner and were held,
possibly with other lands in Clapton, as one tenth
of a knight's fee.**
The manor of CLAPTON, held by the Abbey of
Peterborough, may be traced in origin to various
benefactions made by the Clapton family, which
were assigned by Abbot Benedict (1177-I194) to the
Almoner of the abbey.*' William, son of Walter do
Clapton, granted in frankalmoin one messuage and one
virgate of land and a meadow called Sumc's yard or
MawnesyerdtoPetcrborough'-'and this land is specially
mentioned in the charter of Richard 1 of 1189.'^ In
the following year William and his wife Emma seem
to have given a further release of it to Abbot Bene-
dict.** The latter recovered a carucate of land from
William Dacus and Thomas de Hotot*' as well as 6
acres of the land of the nuns of Chicksand.** Richard
de Clapton and Geoffrey son of Ralph dc Clapton, a
military subtenant of William de Clapton, made
various gifts of land to the Prior of St. Ncots, Hunt-
ingdon,** and Abbot Martin of Peterborough (1226-
1233) bought the rent of zs. a year arising from these
tenements from the Prior, and assigned it to the
Almoner.'" In 1347 the latter held in frankalmoin in
chief of the king 249J acres of land." In 1300 the manor
of Clapton was valued at 56.1. \d. a year,'^ and at the
dissolution of the abbey it was worth £t, 8;. 5W.'^
In 1542, Henry VIII sold it to Roger Tyrwhitt, who
in the same year resold it to William Dudley, the
lord of the manor of Clapton Hotot (y.t.).'^
In 1086, Eustace the Sheriff held one hide and one
virgate of land in chief of the King.'' This land
also passed to the Lovetots, but was held of their
Huntingdonshire Honour of Southo.'* In 1236,
William Patrick held a third of a knight's fee in Clap-
ton, Polebrook and Thurning as part of the Honour,
so that he had not by then granted his rights in this
land to his sister." It seems probable, however, that
she obtained them later, and that it was the homage
and service of their tenants in this holding that she
and John de Littebury granted to Richard de Clare
in 1259.'* If so, Hugh Audley had presumably some
right in his claim against the Abbot of Peterborough,
but put himself in the wrong first by claiming too
much and secondly by distraining the lands which
were held in frankalmoin in the almoner's manor of
Clapton {/]."'.).
The mesne tenants in the early l3tli century were
Hugh le Fleming and his son Robert," and the homage
and service which Robert le Fh-ming and Tlif)nias
Sincrt held in this part of Clapton prob.ibly passed
with their otlier holding which the Almoner held by
military service."" The holding, however, had been
again sub-infcudated. The hide of land was held by
Walter le Stiward, apparently in the middle of the 13th
century, and was sold to Thomas, son of Richard de
Hotot," so that it presumably was incorporated with
the manor of Clapton Hotots (■??'•), the Abbey of Peter-
borough being the overlord of both holdings. The vir-
gate of land was held by Hugh de Cliastillon, who was
living in 1 240,'- and it seems to have passed to the Abbey
of Tiiorncy,"^ wliicli held one-tenth of a knight's fee of
the .'\bbey of Peterborough as of the fee of Lovetot."''
Another reputed manor of CLAPTON may be
traced to half a hide of land, held in 1086 of
the Abbey of Peterborough, by Elmar.'^ In the early
part of the 12th century he had been succeeded by
Ascclin, who may be identified with Ascclin de
Waterville,'* the lord of Thorpe Waterville and
Achurch, and his successors held the ovcrlordsliip of
this land until the middle of the 14th century, but
it is not mentioned after the time of Robert de
Holand.*' The half hide seems to have been
granted before 1185 to Osbert le Bret,"* but in 1243
it was held as one-seventh of a knight's fee by William
Hay,"® who had obtained it from Ralph de Ccstreton.'"
Hugh dc Cliastillon also claimed some right in it at
this time, but William Ha\ re-
tained possession.®! Between
1 261 and 1274 Sir William
Hay granted his manor in
Clapton in exchange to
William Jakeley, Abbot of
Thorney®^ to be held in frank-
almoin and in 1286 the Abbot
obtained a quitclaim of the
half hide of land from John le
Bret and his wife Sarah.®' In
1450 the Abbey of Thorr.cy
was said to hold a manor in
Clapton,'* and at the Dissolu-
tion of the Abbey, the rent was returned at £6 ! y. \d.
a year, but the issues of the court were of no value.®*
In 1542, Henry VIII granted all the lands formerly
belonging to the Alibey of Thorney to Robert
Thorney .Arrfy. Azure
ihrff crozicri bctzvecn as
Ttiatjy crosihis or.
•• Soc. Antiq. MS. 38, f. 64.
" Ibid.
•« Cott. MS. CItop. C i, ff. I45</, 128J.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 3!!, (. 66.
•• Ibid. ; Swaffham Reg. cculix b, xxl.
This is presumably the same virgalc
which was confirmed to the Abbey by Pope
Eogcnius. If so, William, son of Waller,
must have succeeded his father before
1 146 (Gunton, Hut. nf Cb. Pelerhorougb.
ed. 16S5, p. 129.
" Cat. Chart. 1226-57, p. 19.
•* Swiflham Reg. f. clxxi ; Soc. Antiq.
MS. 38, f. I.
" Sparke, Hist. An^l. Script. (Swaffham)
p. 100.
•• Bridges, op. cit. 368.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 38, f. 66.
'• Ibid; Swaflham Reg. fol. c. b. A
Ralph de Clapton at the end of the
1 3th century had a son John and a daugh-
ter Rose. John, son of John dc Clapton,
was dealing with lands in Hemington
in 1438-52 (Buccleuch Deeds A. 76, 77,
78. 85, H. 6,1c,).
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 3«,f. 66.
'• Cott. MS. Vcsp. E xxii, f. 61.
'* Du^dale, Mon. -Jngl. i, 404.
'•/.. III.,/ P. Hen. I'm, xvii g, 714
(IS, 17)-
" I'.C.H. Nortbants. i, 350 a.
'• Bridges, op. cit. ii, 367 ; Soc. Antiq.
MS. 38, f. 64.
" Bk.ofFtes{f.V..O.)\, 580.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 38, f. 64 ; Pytchley,
op. cit. 91.
" Egerton MS. (B.M.) 2733, f. 129;
JJ*. o/f«j(P.R.O.)i, 580.
•" See above.
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 370.
" Feet of F. Northants. East. 24
Hen. III.
127
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 370.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 38, f. 92./; Cott.
MS. Cleop. Ci,f- i-!-7<l-
" V.C.H. Northanis. i, 31'iA.
" Ibid. 366a ; see Thorpc-.\church.
" Kgcrton MS. (B.M.) 273;, f(. izM,
134^; Cott. MS. Clcop. C i, ff. 14'.
14.'/.
" Pipe R. 31 Hen. II, mid.
" Ki;crton MS. (R.M.) 2733> '■ '34''-
" Feet of F. Northants. East. 24
Hen. III.
•' Ibid. ; Egerton MS. (B.M.) 2733,
'= Dugdale, Mon. Anef. 11, p. 604;
Rol. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 84; Cal.
Chart. 1341-1417, p. 79.
" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 14
Edw. I.
•• Dugdale, Mon. An"!, ii, 597.
•• Ibid. 613.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Tyrwhitt, who sold them with the Peterborough
manor of Clapton to William Dudley.*'
The Church of ST. PETER stands at
CHURCH the extreme south end of the village
and is a structure in the style of the
late 13th century, erected in 1862-3 at the charges of
William Peere Williams-Freeman," on, or near, the
site of an older building then pulled down. The
former church consisted of chancel, clearstoried nave
of four bays, north and south aisles, south porch, and
west tower and spire, and appears to have been mainly
of late 13th or early 14th century date, though one of
the stones in the hoodmould of the chancel arch was
a re-used fragment of the pre-Conquest period.'*
The tower and spire having been struck by lightning
at the end of the 1 8th century, were allowed to
fall in order, it is said, to save the expense of
repair. A wall enclosing the nave at its west end
was built, but the base of the tower remained stand-
ing to the top of the plinth until 1 862.'*
The present building, which was consecrated 23
July, 1863, consists of chancel 21 ft. 8 in. by 17 ft. loin.,
with north vestry and organ chamber, nave of three
bays 38 ft. 6 in. by 18 ft. 6 in., north aisle 10 ft.
wide, south porch, and west tower 9 ft. 6 in. square,
all these measurements being internal. The building
is faced with coursed dressed stone and has red-tiled
eaved roofs. The tower is of three stages with
diagonal buttresses and saddle-backed roof. The
aisle is under a separate gabled roof.
The font consists of a plain octagonal bowl,
apparently ancient, on a modern pedestal. The
pulpit and all the fittings are modern. A 13th century
sepulchral slab with dog-tooth ornament and
elaborately carved top, is preserved under the tower,
and in the vestry is a marble tablet to William Breton,
D.D., rector (d. 1658).
The tower contains one bell, by Thomas Mears
of London, 1800.*
The plate consists of a silver-gilt cup and cover
paten of 1548, a silver-gilt paten of 1740 given by the
Rev. Claudius Founereau, rector, in 1 749, and a
plated cup with two handles.^
The registers begin in 1558.
The advowson was granted either
ADFOWSON by one of the Lovetots or their
sub-tenants, the Claptons, before
1 183 to the Priory of St. Neots, Huntingdon, the gift
being confirmed by Richard, son of Walter de Clapton
in tliat year.3 In 1219 Abbot Robert de Lindesey of
Peterborough obtained the advowson from the Prior
of St. Neots in exchange for that of Hemington,*
but the Abbey was apparently disturbed in possession
by the claims of various tenants of lands in Clapton,
who had succeeded William de Clapton. The
archdeacon of Northampton held an inquiry into the
matter in 1220 and the patronage was confirmed to
Peterborough.^ Renunciations of their claims were
made by Ralph de Clapton, possibly the heir of
Geoffrey, son of Ralph de Clapton, a sub-tenant of
William de Clapton, by Sir William Dacus, husband of
Emma, niece or great-niece of William ' and by
Rohesia, the lady of Polebrook and her son Robert.'
In 1282, John Faunel obtained the next presentation
to the living,* but from that time it passed with the
manor of Clapton.*
In 1274-5 Hugh de Colingham, as rector of Clapton,
had for three years withdrawn the suit of his tenants
there at the Hundred Court as well as the payment
of 2s. a year for sheriff's aid. He also claimed to have
view of frank-pledge and the assizes of bread and ale.'*
W'illiam de Clapton granted the third sheath of
the tithes of his demesne to the Prior of Huntingdon
and this was reserved to the Priory, when the advow-
son of the church was assigned to the Abbey of
Peterborough."^ In 1 291 the Priory received an
annual pension of £z.^' A further sheath of the
tithes of his demesne was granted by William to the
Sacrist of Peterborough,*^ whose pension in 1 291 was
worth ^l 6s. Sd. a year.''' A pension 25^. 8d. a year
was reserved to the Priory of St. Neots, when the
advowson was exchanged,'^ but in 1 291 the value
was returned as ;^i."
In 1250, a chapel is said to have been built in
honour of the Holy Trinity, in the churchyard of
Clapton, but no mention of it appears in later docu-
ments." In 1306-7 Sir William Hotot gave a pension
of j^4 to Ralph de Clapton to celebrate daily at the
altar of St. Mary Magdalen in Clapton church, but
presumably it was merely a grant for life.'*
The Rev. William Breton who died
CHARITY in 1658, by his will directed his
executors to purchase land of the
yearly value of ^5 for the benefit of the poor. The
land is situated in the adjoining parish of Winwick
and contains about 15 acres, producing £\6 10/.
yearly, which is distributed in coal to about 30
householders.
" L. and P. Hen. fill, xvil, g. 714
(15 and 17).
•' There is a memorial tablet to him in
the nave ; he died in 1X73. The fovmdation
stone wai laid 3 Jidy, 1S62. The architect
wai Rictiard Armstrong, of London.
•• It was ornamented with plait work
and was probably part of a cross shaft ;
see V.C.n. Northants. ii, i83.
•• There is a plan of the old church,
made by Sir Henry IJryden in 1862
among the Dryden papers in the Nortli-
ampton Free Library. The east end of
the north aisle widened out and was the
burial place of the Dudley family ;
Bridges, Htit. of Northnntf. ii, 370. There
was a figure of St. Katharine in the cast
window. There is also an account of
the old church with drawings of details,
dated 1862, among the church papers.
' There svere four bells in the tower
of the old church, one of which was by
John de Yorkc, of Leicester (15th cen-
tury) ; another was inscribed " Sancte
Petre, ora pro nobis." North, Cb. Beth
oj Xorthants. 222.
• Markham, Ch. I'lile of Xorlhanls. 70,
where the 1548 cup and paten are figured
full size. On the foot of the paten is
inscribed "1595: E.D.," the initials
being those of Edward Dudley, son and
heir of Thomas Dudley, lord of the
manor.
• Soc. of Antlt]. MS. 38, p. M'.
• I'eet of I". Northants. Trin. 3 Men. Ill;
Ducclruch Deeds, U. 1 1 j Kol. Iluj;. de
If'fllet (Cant, and York Soc.) '., 160-1.
• Roi. Hug. de ll'elles (Cant, and York
Soc.) ii, 190.
• Ibid. ; Soc. Antiq. MS. 38, f. 66 j
Bridges, op. cit. ii, 26S-9 ; cf. Feet of V.
Northants. Trin. 1 John.
' Swallham Reg. IT. ccl.6, cclxl.6 ; Feet
of F. Northants. Trin. 3 Hen. III.
128
• Feet of F. Northants. Trin. to Edw. I.
• Rot. RfC. Gratrsend (Cant, and York
Soc), pp. 109, il6; Add. MS. 25288,
f. 38 i /,. c~ P. Hen. rill, xvii, g. 714
(15 and 17); Ch;in. Inq. p.m. (ser. ii)
cccv^ 129; dcxviii, 4t ; F"ect of F.
Northants. Trin. 10 Geo. 1 ; ibid. Trin.
29 Geo. HI.
" Rot. Hund. (Rcc. Com.), ii, S4.
" Rot. Hug. de It'elles (C.mt. and York
Soc), i, 160-I ; Cill. Papal Letters, i,
p. ss*!-
" Pope Nicb. Tax. (Rcc.Com.), p. 39A.
" Rot. Hug. de IfeUes (Cant, and
^'ork Soc.) i, 160-I.
" Pope Nieb. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), 39A.
" Rot. Hug. de ll'elles (Cant, and York
Soc.) loc. cit. ; Feet of V. Northants.
Trin. 3 llro HI.
" I'ofte \i,h. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 39*.
" Bridges, //ij(, Northants. ii, 37J.
"Ibid.
NAVISFORD HUNDRED
PILTON
Pilchetone (xi cent.), Pilkctlion, Pilkintona, Pilkctun
(xiii century).
The parish of Pilton contains 1,4c/) acres of land.'
The subsoil is mainly Oxford clay, with some great
oolite and cornbrash-. The greater part of the land
is laid down in permanent grass. In the north-west,
the land near Bearshank Wood rises to 254 ft. above
the ordnance datum, but near the River Nene, which
forms the eastern boundary, it is low-lying, about
100 ft. above tile ordnance datum.' A bridge over
the river, which is mentioned in the reign of Ed-
ward I,* connects the village of Pilton with Lilford
parish. In the early i8th century the bridge was
built of stone with ten arches, the three nearest to
Pilton being repaired by the lord of the manor.* The
name Bearshank, now only given to the wood, may
have been used for the north-western portion of the
parish, since Robert ' Bareschanke ' of Caistor in the
13th century paid separately for his land in Pilton his
quota for sheriff's aid and other dues to the Hundred
Court.' The wood is mentioned in 1540,' and in
1565 was appurtenant to Aldwinkle manor, but the
inhabitants of Pilton had common rights in it.* A
homestead moat lies to the north of the wood.'
Quarries existed in the l6th century and were used
in the building of Lyveden House.'' They were
worked in the early l8th century, but are now disused.
The village lies near the Nene, with the church and
rectory to the cast. The rectory house stands
immediately to the south-east of the church, and is the
old manor house of the Treshams. It is a picturesque
l6th century building, with dormered gables and
mullioned windows, much restored and with modern
additions. Little of the ancient work is left inside
except a handsome oak staircase with turned balusters
and square newels with shaped tops, which goes the
full height of the house, and a large panelled upper
room with a segmental ceiling and good four-centered
(tone fireplace.
PILTON or PILKETON may
MANORS probably be included amongst the
pre-conquest possessions of the Abbey
of Peterborough, but the first mention of it seems to
be in Domesday Book, when the Abbey held zj hides
of land of the King in chief.'' The whole of this land
was subinfeudated, and the Abbey retained the
overlordship till its dissolution, the last actual mention
of the overlordship of the manor being in 1534.'^
The sub-tenant in 1086 was Roger,'* ancestor o(
tlic Torpel family, who held 12 hides of the Abbey in
Northamptonshire, for the service due from 6 knights'
fees.''' Later ilocumcnts show that their manor in
Pilton was held for the service of 1} knights' fees,"
with castle-guard at Rockingham, li seems possible
that these fees also included li virgales of land,
wliich in Domesday Book were held by Roger in
Wadenhoc.'" In the 1 2th century Survey of North-
amptonshire, Roger Infans, his successor, held
2 small virgates under the heading of Wadcnhoe, but
the entry is confused, and it seems probable tiiat the
land was in Pilton, which with Wadenhoe and Stoke
formed one township." The Torpels held Pilton till
the first half of the 13th century.'* Robert de
Torpel, who succeeded Roger Infans, was tenant in
1130." He was apparently succeeded by Roger de
Torpel, who granted land to St. Michael's of Stam-
ford for the soul of his wife Mary,^'' and died about
1178.2' His son Roger, a minor at his father's death,
married Ascelina, daughter of Saher de Quinci.^^ It
was probably their son Roger who in 1225 brought an
action against his aunt Maud regarding the lands of
his mother.-' He died in that year, when the custody
of the lands of his heir, held of Peterborough, was
granted to the Abbot of Peterborough,^'' and the lands
held in chief, to Ralph Bishop of Chichester.-* The
last Roger died in 1 229, apparently a minor, before
having livery of his inheritance.^* He had married
in his father's lifetime, and was survived by his widow
Mabel.^^ The wardship and marriage of their son
Roger was granted in 1229 to L. Dean of St. Martin's-
le-Grand, later Archbishop of Dublin.-* The last-
named Roger probably died a minor and unmarried,
as Ascelina de Torpel, the wife of Ralph de Camoys,^*
obtained seisin of his lands between 1242 and 1251.'"
As the Torpel fees were still apparently held in ward-
ship, at the earlier date, Ascelina must have been the
sister of the last Roger de Torpel. Her husband is
said to have been that Ralph de Camoys who died in
1259, but none of the Torpel fees is mentioned in the
inquisition taken after his death,*"" and it seems im-
possible that Ascelina could have been the mother of
his son and heir Ralph, who was over 40 years old at
his father's death.*' It seems clear that she was the
wife of the younger Ralph, who died seised of the 6 fees
of the Torpel inheritance in 1277.*^ His son and heir
John was then over 25 and of a suitable age to be
• Ordnance Survey.
• V.C.H. Sonbanu. i, Geological Map.
• Ordnance Survey.
• Cal. And. D., B. 2,R90.
^ Bridges, //»/. Noribanu. ii, 374.
•Egcrton MS. (B.M.), 2731, f. 15;.
^ L. &■ P. I/en. Vlll, XV, g. 831 (50).
• Bridget, Idc. cit.
• y.C.H. Ncribanti. ii, \lt.
"Hill. MSS. Com. Pep. (Var. Coll.)
iii, pp. li, liii.
"y.C.H. Noribanls. i, p. 316a.
" Cbron. Peirob. {Camden Soc), p. 170;
Red Book of Excbej. (Rolls St.), p. 618 ;
Egerton MS. 2733 (B.M.), ff. 135b,
IJ7; Cott. MS. Veip. E xxi, f. 81;
FeuJ. Aids, IT, pp. 48, 448 ; Chan. Inq.
p.m. (Str. ii), dcxcvi, 2.
"V.C.H. Norlhants. i, 316a.
** Cbron. Petroh. (Camden Soc.), pp.
169, 170; Pilton followed the same de-
scent as the manor of Torpel until 1280;
cf. y.C.H. Nortbanls. ii, p. 466.
" Egerton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 135b ;
Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, «. 136-7.
^' y.C.H. Noribanls. i, 316. The ser-
vice of 1} knights' fees was very heavy,
according to the custom of the Abbey, to
be due from 2 hides .ind 1 virgate of l;ind.
" Ibid. 366 ; Egerton MS. (B.M.),
^733, f- I54<i-
" Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script, pp. 54,
So, 83; Cal. Cbari. 1226-57, p. 20;
Gunton, Hist. Cb. 0/ Pelerborougb, 296 ;
Rot. Litl. Claus. (Ret. Com.), i, p. 237b ;
Cott. MS. Cleop. Ci, f. 136.
129
'0 Pytchley, Bk. of Fees (Northanti
Rec. Soc), 34«.
"Ibid. 33. "Ibid. 34«. "Ibid.
" Maitland, Bracton's Note Bk. iii, no.
1045.
" Excerpt, c Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), i,
133 ; Rol. Lilt. Claus. (Rec. Com.), ii, 50.
«' Excerpt, e Rol. Fin. (Rec. Com), i, 187.
" Cal. Close, 1227-31, pp. 145, 197.
"Ibid. "Ibid. 198, 330.
" Rot. Rob. Grosseteste (Cant, and York
Soc), 244.
" Ibid. ; Egerton MS. (B.M.), 2733,
f.137.
'"' Complete Peerage (new ed.) ; Cal.
Iriq. i, no. 443.
"Ibid.
" Cal. Inq. ii, no. 212.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
GOO
Camoys. Argent a chief
gules with three bezants
therein.
Ascelina's son.-"^ John was also the heir of Mabel de
Torpel, probably the widow of the last Roger de Torpel,
who died the same year seised of a Kentish manor.^"*
She also held certain assarts in Pilton, presumably as
part of her dower.''
In 1280, John de Camoys released part of the
Torpel fees to the King and Queen, but retained
Pilton.'' It passed after his death in 1298 to his
son Ralph " and grandson
Thomas. 3'* The latter was
granted one fee in Pilton by
his father, including all the
demesne lands,'^ and after his
father's death in 1336 he
obtained the other half fee.'*
Thomas de Camoys and
Robert de Thorpe were hold-
ing a fee here in 1 346.'"' In
1 369, however, Camoys, whose
only son died in his father's
lifetime,''^ released all his right
in the manor of Pilton to Sir
Robert Thorpe.*^ The latter was succeeded by Sir
WilliamThorpe,'" who died in 1 391, and directed in his
will that the option of buying certain lands in Pilton
should be first offered to John Mulsho.'"'' Presumably
John Mulsho obtained the whole manor, since in 1428
the l\ knights' fees formerly held by Sir Thomas
C.imoys and Robert de Thorpe had passed to Thomas
Mulsho,''* probably Sir Thomas Mulsho of Newton,
one of whose daughters and co-heirs, Alice, married
Henry, second son of Sir William Tresham,^" father
of Sir Thomas, who founded
the Rushton branch of the
family. Richard Tresham, said
to be her grandson,*' died
seised of Pilton manor in
1533.** It passed in direct
descent to John {d. 1539),'"
Maurice,*" and Sir Thomas
Tresham.*^ The last named
was succeeded in 1636 by
his son Thomas, whose son
Maurice is mentioned in a
settlement of 1628. ^^ It
would seem possible that he
was the Maurice Tresham who held the manor in
1639,*' but a Maurice Tresham was apparently the
lord of the manor in 1666 and l67l.*'' It passed
Tresham. Parly sal-
tircu'ise sahle and or
with six trefoils or.
to George Tresham, who died before May, 1684,**
and to his son Edward Tresham, who only survived
him till 1692.** His heir seems to have been
Clemencia Tresham," but in 1714 his mother and
others, probably trustees, sold the manor to Sir
Thomas Powys,*' whose descendant. Lord Lilford, is
now lord of the manor.**
The small holding, which the nth and 1 2th century
tenants of the Abbey of Peterborough held in Waden-
hoe or in Pilton,*" may perhaps be identified with
the land held by a family taking their name from the
place. The Piltons were tenants of the Torpels,*'
and their successors, and held i^ of a knight's fee of
the manor of Pilton,*^ bm {^^y pjjj sheriff's aid and
other dues themselves,'' so that it is probable that
their holding was originally separate from the main
holding in Pilton. William de Pilton (Pilkinton),
who was also known as WiUiam de Liveden,*'' was
succeeded by his son Robert de Pilton or Robert the
knight (le knith or chnit) of Pilton, who lived in the
last quarter of the 13th century.'* Robert had three
sons : GeofTrey, his successor ; John, apparently a
clerk, and Thomas, and a daughter Cicely." Geoffrey
was succeeded by Thomas." It seems possible that
their quarter fee was bought by Sir Robert de
Thorpe,** who evidently held land there by military
service as a sub-tenant of Sir Thomas Camoys,'* before
the latter sold the manor {qv.) to him.
In 1318, Ralph de Camoys obtained a grant of free
warren in his demesne lands in Pilton,™ but in 1329,
when summoned as to his claim for free warren, the
warren was taken into the king's hands, in spite of the
charter, because Ralph had enfeoffed his son Thomas
with all the demesne lands of Pilton." In 1620 Sir
Thomas Tresham obtained a new grant of free
warren in the manor of Pilton.'^
A free fishery at Pilton is mentioned in an extent of
,73
"277
CHURCH
The church of ST. MART and
ALL SAINTS''* consists of chancel,
24 ft. by 14 ft. ; clearstoried nave of
three bays, 35 ft. 9 in. by 17 ft. 6 in. ; north and soulli
aisles, south porch, and west tower, 6 ft. 6 in. square,
surmounted by a broach spire. The width of the
north aisle is 10 ft., and that of the south 13 ft. 6 in.,
the total width across nave and aisles being 45 ft. 8 in.
All these measurements are internal. There is also a
modern vestry covering the north aisle doorway.
The chancel was rebuilt in 1864, and an extensive
" Cal. Inq. ii, no. 212 ; Chron. Petrob.
(Camden Soc), p. 23.
" Cal. Inq. ii, no. 178 ; Cal. Fine.,
i, p. 76.
"Cott. MS. Cleop. Ci,f. 59.
"Cal. Close, 1279-1288, p. 66; I-cct
of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 15 Edw. I, no. 50.
" Cat. Fine, i, p. 34<) ; Cal. Pat.
'3>.Vi7. rP- i''5. 37o>4S2.
•'•Coll. MS. Vcsp. K xxi, f. II;
riac. de Quo lyarr. (Rcc. Com.), |;o8.
■• Asiizc R. no. 632, m. 76 ; Plac. tie Quo
H'arr. (Rtc. Com.), 508.
•• Cal. Pat. 1334-38, p. 275 ; Cott. MS.
Clcop. C i, f. I36d ; A»flizc R. no. 632,
m. 76.
*• Feud. Aids, iv, p. 448.
** Complete Peerage (new ed.).
"Cloic R 4 3 F.dw. Ill, m. 6.
" Feet of F. ih\. Coi. 'Frin. 7 Ric. II.
" Northanti. A'. <5>- Q. iv, 141 ; c(.
King'i Dcnch R. 534, m. 54.
" Feud. Aids, iv, p. 48.
" Uridgcs, Hist. Northanls. ii, 323.
*' Ibid. lie w.ts sun of Rich.Trd
Trcjh.im.
** Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dcxcvi, 2.
" Ibid. Ix, 35.
•" Feet of F. North.mts. E.ist. 5 Y.Vn..
" Ilridgcs, op. cit. ; Feet of F. Nortli-
.Tnts. Trin. 16 J.ts. I.
" Ch.in. Inc], p.m. (Ser. ii), cccclssxi, 13.
" Krrov. R. Trin. 15 CIi.ts I, ro. 51.
•M'.R.O. Initit Boolii, 1606-1671.
" Norlhants. A'. (S- Q. V, 238, 239.
"Ibid.
" Feet of F. Norlhants. F^.iit. 12 Will.
iSiMary.
•• Feet of F. Northants. East. 13 Anne.
" Recov. R. Mich. 6 Ceo. IV, ro. 265 ;
G.E.C. Complrir Peerage. '** See above.
" Soc. Anii'|. MS. 60, f. 159 d.
•MMd. f. is6.
•■ Egerton MS. (Il.M.), 2733, f. 154 d.
130
'* 'I'he Piltons were benefactors of the
Ilospit.-il of St. John Baptist of Armslon,
.ind much information about them will be
found among the deeds of that house in
lUiccleuch Charters 66 to 75 ; Soc. of
Antiq. MS. 60, f. I59</.
" liuccleuch Ch. 71, 72, 76; Egerton
MS. (Il.M.), 2733, f. 155; Cott. MS.
Clcop. C i, f. 58 d.
•• liuccleuch Ch. 66, 69, 72, 74, 75 ;
Soc. of Antiq. MS, 60, f. i|;6.
•' Coll. MS. Clcop. C i, f. 59 d.
•• Cf. Pytchley, Hk. of Fees, 40 n, 43,
4!; n. 53. 55 "•
" Feud, .-lids, iv, 448.
'» Cal. Chart. 1300-26, pp. 397, 417.
" Plac. de Quo IVarr. (Rolls. Ser.), 508.
"Pat. R. 18 Jas. I,pt. 15.
" Cal. Inij. ii, no. 212.
"The early dedication seems lo have
been lo All Saints (Assize R. no. 632,
m. 72).
t^
:(1:5
1
1
w
^»^
kiSv-'-"
PiLTON r O1.D Manor Holse (now the Rectory)
PiLTON Church from the South
NAVISFORD HUNDRED
PILTON
restoration of the church in 1874-5 involved a l.irgo
ainount of rebuilding, but the reconstruction appears
to have followed the lines of a 12th and 13th century
church, considerable portions of which remain. The
cliancel is faced with dressed stone and has a slated
eaved roof, but the rest of the building is of rubble,
plastered internally, with plain parapets and low-
pitched leaded roofs. The tower and spire were
restored in 1896.
The chancel is of three bays with windows in the
13th century style, but the arch to the nave is old, of
two chamfered orders, the inner springing from half-
round responds with restored 13th century capitals
and bases. The nave arcades are of two chamfered
orders, the outer stopped by a half dog-tooth, on
octagonal piers and responds with moulded capitals
and bases. The nail-head ornament occurs in the
capital of the eastern pier on the south side.
The south doorway (c 1 170-80) has a round arch
of two orders. The outer order has a row of chevcrons
on the wall-plane, and another on the sofiit-planc,
forming a series of hollow lozenges : the capitals of
the jamb-shafts have water-leaf ornaments, and there
is a row of dog-tooth in the hood. The south
porch is mainly of the 13th century. It has lateral
benches and a chamfered arch, with nail-head on
the chamfer and in the hood. On either side of the
opening, below the springing of the arch, are two
shields, set one above the other. The upper shield in
each case bears a saltire, while the lower shield,
which is larger, bears three trefoils, the arms of the
Treshams who were lords of the manor from the
15th century.
Much of the outer walls of nave and aisles is old,
as well as of the window-tracery, but all has been
patched with new masonry. In the east wall of the
south aisle is a very good three-light window with
cusped circles in the head, and the neighbouring two-
light window in the south wall is of similar character.
The east window of the north aisle is composed of
three very slender lights with intersecting tracery,
and there is a three-light 15th-century window at the
east end of the north wall. A two-light square
headed window of the late l6th or early 1 7th century,
has been built into the north wall of the vestry.
The tower is tall and slender, of three stages, with
moulded plinth and diagonal buttresses. The west
doorway, with rather solid 13th century mouldings
on jamb-shafts with moulded capitals and bases,
has been much restored. The bell-chamber has two-
light openings with forked mullions and excellent
mouldings, c. 1 280- 1300. There is no vice. The
spire is contemporar)', with two rows of spire-lights,
above a corbel table of heads and other devices.
These portions of ancient work indicate the re-
building of a 1 2th century church towards the end
of the 13th century. The clearstory and parapet of
the nave were added in the later part of the 14th
century ; the windows of the clearstory, two on each
side, appear to be old, with tracery of quasi-flam-
boyant character.
The font is octagonal, with a band of carved foliage
on the underside of the bowl, on an octagonal pedestal
with moulded base and grifles at the angles. The
piscina in the south aisle is modern, but is probably
imitated from an earlier one. An old scratch dial is
built into the east jamb of the western window in
the south wall.
The pulpit and other fittings arc modern. There
are brass tablets to the 4th Baron I.ilford (d. 1896),
and his first wife Emma Klizabcth Brandling (d. 1884).
There are four bells in the tower, the same number
as in 1552. The treble is by Thomas Newcombe, of
Leicester (1506-20), with the recurrent letter S
alternating with a cross ; the second and third are
by Tobie Norris, of Stamford, 1610, and the tenor
has the inscription ' Nomen Magdalene Canipana
gcret melodic,' with the marks of John Danyell, of
London (1450-61).'*
The plate consists of a silver cup, paten, and flagon
of 1864, given by the Rev. Richard Hodson, rector.'*
The registers before 1 81 2 are contained in two
volumes; (i) baptisms and burials 1569-1812,
marriages 1569-1754, (ii) marriages 1754-1812.
The advowson of the church was
ADVOIVSON presumably always appurtenant to
the manor, the first recorded pre-
sentation being in 1221 by Roger de Torpel." The
presentations have been made uninterruptedly by the
lords of the manor or their trustees,'* with the possible
exceptions of Thomas Beofitz in 1472 and 1475,'*
and James Digby in 1670.'" Lord Lilford is the
present patron of the living. The benefices of Pilton
and Wadenhoe being united in 1925, the presentation
is now made alternately by Lord Lilford and the
trustees of Capt. Hunt.
The charity of Thomas Thurlby
CHARITIES founded by will dated 24 September
1515, and the Inclosure Rent Charge
recited in a deed poll dated 30 March 1756, arc
regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners
of 10 July 1900. The property originally consisted
of a close of 2 acres called Chambers Close, and
about 15 acres of land and a rent charge of £2 out of
land in Pilton. The land has been sold and the
rent charge redeemed and the endowment now con-
sists of ;^6oi 5^. 2d. Consols producing ^^15 os. \d.
yearly in dividends. The income is applied by the
Churchwardens as to two-thirds in church expenses
and as to one-third in the distribution of coal. By
his will dated 30th January 1711, Richard Ragsdale
gave a sum of los. yearly to the poor. This sum is
charged upon Lord Lilford's estate, and is applied
by the churchwardens in the distribution of clothing.
By his will proved in the Prerogative Court of
Canterbury 4 May 1863, John Baseley Selby gave a
sum of money, now represented by ^^48 7;. ■},d.
Consols producing ^l 4J. yearly in dividends. The
income is distributed by the rector and churchwardens
to the poor in coal.
The sums of Consols are with the Official Trustees
of Charitable Funds.
" North, Cb. Belli of Norlbantt. 382,
where the inscription! on the second and
third .ire alio given.
" .Markham, Cb. Plait of Noribanis. 239.
An inscription on the fi:igon records that
Mr. Hodson presented .ilso * the new
chancel and all its furniture.* He was
rector 1858-70.
" Roi. Hug. it WcUts (Cant, and York
Soc), iii, p. III.
" Bridges, //u/. of KortbanU. ii, 375 ;
Inq. a.q.d. file 240, no. 18 ; Feet of K.
niv. Cos. Trin. 7 Ric. II ; Norihanti.
N. &■ Q., iv, p. 141 ; Chan. Inq. p.m.
(Scr. ii), dcxcvi, 2 ; cccclxxxi, 13 ; Feet
of F. Northants. East. 13 Anne j Recov.
R. Mich. 6 Geo. IV, ro. 265 ; Instit. Bks.
P.R.O. 1625, 1666, 1671, 1765, 1772, 1794.
'• Bridges, /or. cit.
•» Instit. Bks. F.R.n. iC/o.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
STOKE DOYLE
Stoche (xi cent.), Stokes, Stok juxta Hundel
(Oundle) (xiii cent.), Stokes de Olv, Stoke Leukenors
(xiv cent.).
The parish of Stoke Doyle, which lies about two
miles south-west of Oundle, contains 1,570 acres,
the greater part of which is laid down in permanent
grass. The subsoil is Oxford clay, stone marls and
cornbrash. The land rises gently to the west from
the River Nene, which forms the eastern boundary.
Along the river bank the ground falls to a little below
the 100 ft. contour line, but in the north-west of the
parish near Stoke Wood it reaches 238 ft. above the
ordnance datum. Stoke Doyle was formerly within
the metes of the Forest of Rockingham, but in 1638
Edward Doyley obtained licence to disafforest his
manor which contained 1,200 acres of land within the
Forest.i There are two disused stone quarries in the
parish.
The village lies along the road from VVadenhoe to
Oundle, where the road is crossed by a stream rising
in Lilford Wood and running into the Nene. The
church stands on the east side of the road. A little
distance to the south-east is the Rectory, a 17th
century house with later additions. On one of the
bay windows is the date 1633 with the initials T. B.,
and a gable of this north wing is dated 1 731. The
old manor house south of the church was pulled down
about 1870 and a farm house erected on the site.^
A square stone dovecot with hipped roof and lantern
survives from the old buildings.
There is no railway line in the parish, and the
nearest station is at Oundle on the London Midland
and Scottish Railway.
The manor of STOKE DOYLE may
MJA'ORS be identified with one of the Domesday
holdings of the Abbey of Peterborough,
which contained 2 hides and a virgate of land, but
was then appurtenant to Oundle manor.'* By II25,
tlie land had been subinfeudatcd, but the overlord-
ship was held by the Abbey, until its dissolution.*
Afterwards the manor was held of the Crown as of
the Hundred of Navisford^ (?-^-)> -""^ when the latter
was granted by James I to Lord Montagu, he also
obtained the overlordship of Stoke Doyle.*
About 1 1 25, Wymund de Stoke was the tenant of this
land, which he held as one knights' fee, but claimed
to hold l\ hides in socage.' In the 1 2th century
survey of Northamptonshire, Stoke does not appear,
but as Wadenhoe, Pilton and Stoke formed one town-
ship,* it is possible that the entries under Wadenhoe
include holdings in the other two parishes. Wymund
appears as holding one virgate of land,' which may
have been the virgate which the lords of Stoke Doyle
afterwards held of the manor of Pilton," but if so
his main holding is omitted. He was probably suc-
ceeded by another Wymund before 1146.*' In 1 189,
the fee was held by Guy de Stoke, ^- and in 1 199
Robert de Stoke agreed to perform the military service
due from half a knight's fee and to pay a rent of 8x.
a year for the other half.^^ He was living in 1227,**
but was succeeded by Edmund or Simon de Stoke
shortly afterwards. ^^ In 1242-3 John de Stoke was
the tenant,** but he had died before 1246-7,*' and in
1254 the half fee was held by the heir of Robert de
Stoke.** In 1275 John de Stoke was lord of the
manor," but he apparently died before 1280.-"
The manor then passed to Alice, the wife of John
Doyley, who obtained in I3I3,2<'-" {rom Robert son of
John de Stoke, a quitclaim of
his right in the manor. In
the same year they settled it,
with remainders to their son
Thomas and the right heirs of
Alice.^* Thomas did homage
to the abbot in 1322.2'- A
John Doyley, possibly son of
Thomas, held the manor in
1 34123 and in 1353 he made a
settlement on his son Tliomas
by his second wife Margery.**
This Thomas seems to have
died young, and the manor
went to Henry Doyley, probably his great-uncle,
son of John Doyley and his wife Alice.25 On his
death after 1367 the manor went to John, son of
Robert Knightley (d. c. 1326) and Alice his wife
(d. 1349), who was sister of Henry Doyley. John
Knightley presented to the church in 1 369 and 1390.2*
A settlement of Stoke Doyle was made in 13702' on
Joan, said to be daughter and heir of Sir John Doyley,
DovLEV. Ctilfs thref
bans' brads cabosbed
argent.
' I'.it. R. 14 Ch.iB. I, pt. 18.
' Whclbn, lliil. of Noribani! 1S74.
The iron gatci were taken to a house in
Oundte.
• V.C.U. A'orlhanls. i, JI4'J.
• C'bron. Peiroh. (Camden Soc), 1 57 ;
Ftud. Aidi, iv, 48, 448 ; Chan. Int). p.m.
18 p.dw. IV, no. 37.
'Ibid. (Ser. ii), civlii, 14; P.R.O. Ct.
R. ptf. 19;, no. 56.
• Chan. Inq. p.m. miic. ptf. 22, no.
9b.
' Chron. Peiroh. (Camden Soc), i 57.
• Kgcrton MS. (ll.M.), 27J3, f. 15 ;.
• Cott. MS. Vein. F. xxii, f. 94.
"Soc. Antiq. -MS. 60, f. ijCi.
" Sparke, Ihil. /Itif.l, Script, d;, 81.
^^ (.'al. Chart. 1226-57, p. 20.
'•I'eet o( F. Northanti. 10 Ric.
caie 77, no. •).
" Rfd Hi. 0/ rx.hrj. (Rolli
I,
Ser),
C19; Rot. Hug. dc H'clles (Cant, and
\'ut\( Soc.), ii, 140.
"Egerton MS. (B.M.) 2713, f. Ijzd.
'* Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 251 d.
" Cott. MS. Clfop. C i, f. 58 d.
"Soc. Antiq. MS. (io, f. 249. Sit
Robert de Stoke had a brother Walter
(Hucclcuch Deed. II. 18).
'» Rot. Ric. Gravcscnd (C.int. and York
Soc), 126. In 1273 a John de Stiike juxta
Ilundcl (Oundle) wa« in gaol for robbing
Borne merchants of a great Bum of money
[Cal. Pat. 1272-81, p. S). VV'ilh.mi Bon
of Sir Jolin Stoke waB witness to a 13th
century diartcr as to landi in Itarnwcll
(Duitleuch Decdi, II. 20).
■" De Ilanco R. 42, m. 82d. As lord
of the manor, John presented to the
rectory in 1275, but in 1280 the Ilishnp of
Lincoln presented owing to lapse (HridgcB,
//ii/. Norlhanli.W, 377). Rifore 12S2, John
132
Doyley and his wife Alice recovered the ad-
vowsun from John de Stoke and others, but
it seems clear that the defendant in thii
case must have been another John de Stoke.
•»• Dc Ranco R. 201, m. id (3).
•' Feet of F. Northants, llil. 6 Edw. 11;
Cott. MS. CIcop. C i, f. 144.
" Ibid. Vcsp. E xxi, I. 79b.
"Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 14
Edw. Ill ; Feud. Aids, iv, 44X.
»« Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 26
Edw. III.
'* See I'.C.ll. Northants. Familtcs, 174,
where John tie Kniglilley is descrihetl as
his nephew, and Alice, John's mother,
wife of Robert Knightley, is described ai
daughter of John Doyley in 1313.
•" List of I'resentatiimi, cit. Ilridgei,
op. cit. ii, 377.
" Baker, Northants. 508 ; Feet of F.
Div. Cos. Trin. 44 Edw. III.
NAVISFORD HUNDRED
STOKE DOYLE
and Thomas, son of Roger Lcwkcnor of Sussex, her
husband,*' and in 1391 a further settlement of the
manor was made on Joan and her second husband,
John Cobham, with a life interest to John Knightlfy.-'
Roger l.ewkenor apparently granted it to trustees,*"
one of whom, Nicholas Nymmes, did homage in
l.joi," and the trustees still held it in 141 2.^- By
1428 the manor had reverted to Thomas Lewkenor,
Joan's grandson,'-" whose son Roger presented to the
church in 1453 and died in 1478, leaving a son and
heir Thomas,*'' who forfeited his lands, probably as
a Yorkist. Stoke Doyle was granted to William
Sapcote in 1484,''''' but Lewkenor was probably re-
instated in possession, as his son Roger presented to
the church in 1 491.** He left four daughters, and
his heirs apparently sold the manor to Sir George
Puttenham, who in 1 526 levied a fine of it against
Roger Corbet.** It seems to have passed, with other
property to Andrew, first Lord Windsor, before
1536.*' On his death it passed to his son V\'illiam**
and grandson Edward. The latter sold it in 1560 to
Richard Palmer,** who was already lord of another
manor in Stoke Doyle (j.t'.).
Richard Palmer died in 1570,"'
and the property passed in
direct descent to Anthony
(d. 1633), Edward, Edward,
Geoffrey (living 1677), and
Anthony Palmer.'* The last-
named sold it in 1697 to Sir
Edward Ward, Chief Baron of
the Exchequer.*- His sons,''*
Edward (d. 1734),'''' and Philip,
successively succeeded liim.''*
On the death of the latter in
1752,'" the manor was divided
amongst his sisters or their descendants.'" The whole
manor, however, was obtained before 1789 by Rowland
Hunt, grandson of Jane, the eldest daughter of Sir
Edward Ward,''* who married Thomas Hunt (d. 1753)
and had a son. Rev. Rowland Hunt, D.D., rector of
Stoke Doyle (d. 1785). Rowland Hunt (d. 183 1), his
son, apparently conveyed the manor to the Rev. Robert
Roberts, D.D., after whose death it was put up for
auction in March 1830, when it was stated to be
discharged from tithe and to extend over 1,300
acres, and there went with it the right of fishing in
Palmer, .-izttre a che-
vcron engraiUd bettvfen
ibree craccnts arpent.
Cahbon. rarly cheve-
ronti'isr [quit's anii azure
a ihet'eton enaiaiUd
argent heiween tzvo Uorts
ermino:s fating one
another in the ihief and
a ( rojj paiy or m the foot
uiith three nwiets sable
on the theieron.
the Nene for nearly two miles, and tiic right to cut
rushes. In .'\pril 1830, however, it was privately
sold by the trustees of Dr.
Roberts to George Capron.
It passed on his death in
1872 to his son, the Rev.
George Capron, whose son,
Mr. G. Herbert Capron, is the
present lord of the manor.'"
In 1086, the Abbey of
Peterborough had a second
holding in Stoke. The under
tenants were two knigiits, two
Serjeants, with one sokman,
who held 2 hides and 3 vir-
gates of land."
One of the knights may be
identified withGeofTrey Infans,
said to have been nephew of
Abbot Thorold (1069-98), and
tenant of 8 hides in Gunthorp,
Southorp, Stoke and Hemington."' Geoffrey Infans
or de Gunthorpe seems to have had three sons, Ive,
Richard and Ralph. Ive apparently left no issue.
Richard, who succeeded him, had a son Geoffrey
whose son Geoffrey is mentioned in 1189. In 1198
Waleran son of Ralph, who took the name of de
Helpston, claimed against Geoffrey, son of Geoffrey, 3
knights' fees in Southorpe, Gunthorpe and Stoke.*"
Geoffrey was succeeded after I2I2 by liis son Robert,
who was followed by Thomas, his son, and another
Geoflrey, son of Thomas. Geoffrey de Southorpe con-
veyed the manor of Southorpe, with the homages and
services pertaining to it, to Stephen de Cornhill, citizen
of London, probably in security for a loan. Stephen
de Cornhill sold the manor and services to Elias de
Bckyngham, apparently on behalf of the abbot of Peter-
borough. Geoffrey de Soutliorpe, however, being im-
prisoned for a debt to Queen Eleanor, repudiated ti^e
conveyance of Southorpe, saying it was made while he
was under duress, and therefore of no effect. But
William de Woodford, out of respect for Geoffrey's
poverty and to avoid a scandal, gave him 10 marks and
two horses, and Geoffrey confirmed the manor to the
abbot. The transactions were completed in 1291.'*
The knight's service held in Stoke was in respect of
the manor of STOKE or STOKE DOT LEI'}'*
>' I'isil. of Sussex (llarl. Soc), 25.
" Feet of F. Northants. case 17S, file
88, no. 136.
" De Banco R. 572, m. 210.
" Add. MS. (B..M.), 252SS, i. 9.
*• Feud. Aids^ vi, 500. Thomas Torp,
another of the trustees, lu'ld a rent of ^ifi
a year, and Robert Knyvet a rent of J[j
as dower of his wife, the widow of Roger
Lewkenor. " Feud. Aids, iv, 4S.
." Chan. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. IV, no. 37.
"• Cal. Pal. 147C-85, p. 42S.
" Bridges, loc. cit. For descent of
I.cwkcnor, see Vistt. of Sussex (Harl. Soc),
p. 25-30; Cal. Inij. Hen. Vll vol. ii,
no. 620, and Wrottesley, Pedigrees from
the Plea R. p. 432.
•• Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 18
lien. VIII.
" Bridges, op. cit. i, 126.
••G.li.C. Complete Peerage; Ct. of
Req. bdle. 14, no. 33 ; Recov. R. Trin.
1556, ro. 546; ¥.\K.O. Ct. R. pif. 195,
no. 56.
*• Recov. R. Mich. 1560, ro. 915;
Feet of F. Northants. East. 5 Eliz.
'° Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), civiil, 14.
"Metcalfe, Visit, of Northants. 123;
Chan. Inq. p.m. Misc. pt. 22, no. 9b ;
Pat. R. 14 Chas I, pt. 18 ; Feet of F.
Northants. East. 29 Chas. II.
«' Recov. R. Trin. 9 Will. Ill, ro. 185 ;
Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 9 Will. III.
*'M.I. in church; Diet. Nat. Biog. ;
Bridges, op. cit. ii, 12.
*' Centos. Mag. 1734, p. 330.
*' Instit. Bki. (P.R.O.) 1735.
"• Glut's. Mag. 1752, p. 192.
''Diet. Nat. Biog.; Recov. R. Ilil.
26 Geo. II, ro. 16^ ; ibid. Mich. 29
Geo. II, ro. 161 ; ibid. Mich. 3 Geo III,
ro. 272; ibid. Mich. 18 Geo. Ill, ro.
279; ibid. Mich. 20 Geo. Ill, ro. 339;
Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 20 Geo. III.
"Recov. R. Mich. 30 Geo. Ill, ro.
lOQ
*" Inform, supplied by Mr. Cj.
Capron.
II.
'° y.C.ll. Northants. i, 3iCa.
" CAroB. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 168;
Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, 137.
'2 Curia Regis R. i, 38, 61-2, 120, 288,
444-
"The descent and other details of the
Southorpe Fee are set out in Pytchley,
Bk. of Fees (Northants. Rec. Soc), 63-71.
The last-named Geoffrey married Rose,
daughter and co-heir of Berengar Ic
Mijyiie of Barnwell St. Andrew. John
de l.ayham, son of Geoffrey de Southorpe,
released all his right in Berengar Ic
Moync's manors to Ramsey Abbey in
1329 (Buccleuch Deeds, 11.62). Robert,
son of John, son of Geoffrey de Southorpe,
had done the same in 132S. (Ibid. Ii. 75).
" In thr ]4lh century, the manor wai
called Stoke Doyley, though it never
apparently had any connection with the
Doylevs' manor, and the same confusion
continued, presumably because the name
Stoke D(jyle caioc to be used for the whole
parish.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
At what date it was sub-infcudated is not known,
but in 1242-3 Thomas Wake held a quarter of a
knight's fee of Thomas, son of Robert, and Thomas
of Peterborough Abbey.*^ In 1 3 16, Hugh Wake was
liiC tenant,** and in 1329 Andrina Wake, possibly his
widow, holding for life, had apparently succeeded
him." Thomas son of Hugh was at this time a
minor in the wardship of the abbot.'* Another
Hugh Wake appears in 1347,*^ and he seems to have
been succeeded by Thomas Wake.^ -A Hugh Wake
of Stoke Doyle was living about 1400.'^ The manor
seems to have been bought either by Sir William
Thorpe, senior, or his brother Sir Robert Thorpe,
since Sir William Thorpe, junior, inherited it *"^ and
settled it in 1383.*^ After his death it passed with
the manor of Pilton (y.t'.) to the Mulshos and Tres-
hams." Just before his death in 1533, Richard
Tresham sold the manor to John Palmer,*^ and the
transaction was completed by his son and heir John.'"*
John Palmer died in 1558,"' and the manor passed to
his son Richard,^ who some years later purchased
the main manor of Stoke Doyle (ij.i'.). The manor is
mentioned separately in the inquisition on the lands
of Anthony Palmer in 1633,** but the two manors
afterwards became merged.
The second knight, who held of the Abbey of Peter-
borough, apparently only held 3 virgates of land, and
his holding may be identified with the land held by
Ingram {d. II 14), whose fee was seized by Geoffrey de
Gunthorpe. The next holder was Hugh Olifard of
Stoke in 1 125.'* Hugh held another third part of a
virgate," but later documents show that some land
in the quarter of a knight's fee held by his successor
lay in Churchfield.'- His land passed in succession
to Ingelram, who was the tenant in 1146,''' and to
Vivian de Stoke, who, however, had died before
llSy.'-* Ive de Stoke was holding in 1 1 89, and
Henry his son was the tenant in 121 1,'* and he was
followed by another Ive de Stoke.'* By 1243 it had
passed to Henry Knight (Miles)," and in 1254
Robert Knight paid the scutage due from a quarter
fee.'"* In 1300 Nicholas Knight did homage for his
land in Stoke,'* and another Nicholas did homage in
1322,^" but shortly afterwards he gave it to William
de Whatton, rector of the church of Stoke, who sold
it to Thomas Doyley,*^ the lord of the chief manor of
Stoke Doyle (y.t'.), to which this quarter fee seems to
have been united.*^
A free fishery was apparently parcel of the second
manor of Stoke Doyle, and is mentioned in 1537 and
1610.'^
A fulling mill is referred to in 1408."
The church of ST. RUM BALD
CHURCH or ALL SAINTS stands on the east
side of the village, and is a plain,
classic structure erected in 1722-25 on the site of an
older building. The former church, which appears to
have belonged mainly to the middle of the 13th cen-
tury, consisted of chancel with north chapel (or
' burying isle,') nave with north aisle, and west tower
surmounted with a broach spire. The nave was of
four bays, and the chancel opened to the chapel by
an arcade of three arches. There was a large round-
headed south doorway with many shafts and orna-
mented with dog-tooth, but no porch.*'
In a petition to the bishop to pull down the old
church it was stated that the building had become
' so ruinous that to repair it would be a burden too
heavy for the parish to bear'; the spire*' was in
danger of falling, and the structure was described as
' very much larger than is necessary for the inhabitants
of so small a parish.' The building, therefore, was
pulled down in the spring of 1722, and the first
stone of the new church laid in May of that year.
The roof was completed in the autumn, but no joiners'
work was done in the interior until the summer of
1724,**'' when the pews, pulpit, wainscot and doors
were put in, the windows glazed, and the ceiling and
walls plastered. The tower was begun in June, 1724,
and finished in August, 1725, but the building was
not opened until the following March.*'
The church as then completed remains unaltered.
In plan it is a rectangle measuring internally 61 ft. by
24 ft. 6 in.,** with west tower, and mortuary chapel,
now used as a vestry, at the east end of the north
wall ; it is faced with aslilar, and has a cornioe and
"Kgcrton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 135.
'« Feud. Aids, iv, 2S.
" De Banco R. 272, llil. 2 Edw. III.
''' Pytchley, op cit. 61, 62.
»»Cott. .MS. Clcop. C. i, f. i32d.
•» Feud. Aids, iv, 48.
" Pytchley, op cit. 128.
" Soc .\ntiq. M j. jS, f. 112.
•> Feet of I'. Oiv. Coj. Trin. 7 Ric. II.
•'/■>«</. Aids, iv, 48; Ct. of Rcq.
bdlc. 2, no. 103.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), dcxcvi, 2 ;
cxix, 116.
•• I'cet of I-'. Northants. Trin. 26 Hen.
VIII 1 Rccov. R. F.a»t. 26 lien. VIII,
ro. 141 J P.R.O. Ct. R. ptf. 195, no. 56.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), cxix, 116.
•" Ibid, civiii, 14.
••Ibid. Hxxvii, 96.
'" Cbron. PtiToh. (Camden Soc), p. 175 j
Round, Feudal En^l. 223, 224.
'' Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 175.
"Sparke, op. cit. p. 62.
"Ibid. p. Si.
'* Cat, Chan. i2 2'>-^7, p. 20.
^^ Red Ilk. of Fx.b. (Koll. .Ser.), 15S,
619; Soc. Aniir|. MS. 6 ., I. i<;9(l.
'* Pytchley, op rii. 14611, 14711.
" Egerton MS. (ll.M.), 2733, f. 135.
From the Rucclcuch Deeds we find refer-
ences to the KniglitB (Miles, le Cnit,
le Knyt, Knyvct) of Stoke, of Pilton, of
Wykingsthorp and of Polebrook in the
13th century. The name Robert is
common to all of them, but the entries
arc too disconnected to show whether
tiicy have .'iny relation to one another.
It is possible tlut Henry tiie knight of
Stoke was son of Ive dc Stoke.
'^ Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, f. 249.
'• Cott. MS. Vcsp. K xxii, f. 47.
'" Ibid, xxi, f. 79b.
"Pytchley, op. cit., 146; Cott. MS.
Cleop. (' i, f. 145. 'Fhomas Doyley was
holding in 1346.
" F.-ud. Aids, iv, 48, 448; Cott.
MS. Cleop. C i, f. I32d.
"•Feet of V. Northants. Mil. 28
lien. \III i Rccov. R. East. 8 Jas. I, ro.
If)2.
"Add. MS. (n.M.), 25288, (. 115.
" The Ilebutldittg o( the Parish Church
of Slohe Doyle, from an orig)n;iI MS. by
Rev. John Vorkr, rector, 1721, anriol.ited
by Rev. J. T. Hurt, and with architectural
notes by Rev. \V. D. Swecliuc 1SS4.
This paiiiphh-t has been used in ifie
description that follows. An illustration
•34
of the old church thows five two-light
clear It ory wim^ows on the south side,
though there was no south aisle, and low-
pitched leaded roof to the nave. The ro(»f
of the chancel was of high pitch and
covered with tiles. The internal length
of chancel and nave was 92 ft., and the
width across nave and aisle 36 ft.
"• Bridges pays tliat at the base of the
spire, facing south-east, was cut ' Oia
pro aninia Hawisig ' : U%H. Nortbantiy li,
377.
■'" ' The summer of 1723 was too little
to dry the walls.'
" It was intended that the church
should I'c opened in the summer of 1725,
but Mr. Ward, the patton, at whose
charges it had been erected, 'happening
not to come into the country till the
lunmicr was almost over, and some
utensils, etc., being wantini;, the opening
was put off for that winter.' : Yorkc'i
MS.
'" The west wall 11 in the same position
as (he west wall of the old na\e, but the
south wall is about ^ ft. in front of the
(lid one. The ea^t wall of (lie chancel
nf the old church was 30 ft. to the eabi
of the prc'cnt cast wall.
Stoke Doyle Church : Monument to Sir Edward Ward
NAVISFORD HUNDRED thorpe achurch
plain parapet, and semi-circular hcaJcd side windows
with moulded architraves and sills. The east window
is of the three-light ' Venetian ' type, and the south
doorway has a semi-circular arch, pilasters, and broken
segmental pediment. The tower is of three stages,
witii balustraded parapet and angle pinnacles,
round-headed bell chamber windows, and west
doorway.
There is no structural division of chancel and nave
inside, > coved plaster ceiling covering the whole
space. The font, pulpit, seating and wainsct)t are all
contemporary with the building.
The vestry, or mortuary chapel, opens to the
sanctuary by a round stone arch and has a window
facing east. It contains an elaborate marble monu-
ment to Sir Edward Ward, knight. Lord Chief Baron
of the Exchequer (d. 1714), wdth reclining figure in
judge's robes, said to be by Rysbrack." In the
sanctuary is a canopied mural monument in marble
and alabaster to Mrs. Frances Palmer {J. 1628), wife
of Edward Palmer, Counsellcr at Law, and memorials
to Katharine {d. 1760), wife of Dr. Rowland Hunt,
rector, and to Hannah (d. 1819), wife of the Rev. R.
Roberts, curate, the latter by Chantrey.
There is a ring of five bells by Thomas Eayre, of
Kettering, cast in the winter of 1727.'*'
The plate consists of a cup and cover paten, flagon,
and two plates of 1734, each inscribed ' Stoke Doyle
in Northamptonshire.'"
The registers begin in 1560. The first volume has
all entries to 1653, the second from 1654 to 1736, and
the third from 1736 to 181 2.*^
On the south side of the building is the base of a
churchyard cross, of somewhat unusual form, the
chamfered stops of which have scroll-like projec-
tions.*'
Bridges records in the chancel of the old church a
stone 8 ft. long, on which was cut the name ' Ricardus
Ashton.'**
A recumbent efTigy of a priest now in the church-
yard to the east of the chancel was formerly in the old
church, between the chancel and north chapel.'-"
The advowson of the church of
.■IDI'OII'SOX Stoke Doyle has been always held by
the lords of the first manor of
Stoke Doyle, the earliest recorded presentation being
in 1222, by Robert de Stoke."* Mr. Capron is the
owner of the advowson at the present day.
A rent of los. a year from the rectory of Stoke
Doyle was paid to the Sacrist of the Abbey of Peter-
borough in 1291." All portions, tithes and pensions
in the parish were granted in 1541 to the dean and
chapter of the newly founded cathedral.**
At the Dissolution of the chantries, a sum of
53J. •^d. existed to maintain an obit and light in the
church as well as an annual rent of 2/.'*
In 1591 a dispute arose as to a messuage and 20 acres
of land lield for the benefit of the parish for repairing
bridges, the relief of the poor, etc. The deeds were
in the possession of Anthony Palmer, the lord of the
manor, and two others, who, it is alleged, tried to
conceal the property, pretending that it had been
given for superstitious uses.'"**
Thomas Hewitt in 1749 left ^^20 for
CHARITIES the poor. This sum was subsequently
invested in £20 8j. ()d. Consols pro-
ducing 10/. yearly in dividends. The income is
distributed by the rector and churchwardens in
bread on St. Thomas's Day to about 20 recipients.
George Capron by indenture dated 24 June 1844
gave /^20O to the rector and churchwardens for
charitable purposes. The money was invested in
/^2I5 10/. loii. Consols producing £^ ys. Sd. in divi-
dends. £2 is distributed to the local Clothing and
Coal Clubs, £2 in aid of the Sunday School and ^l
to Peterborough Infirmary.
The sums of Stock are with the Official Trustees of
Charitable Funds.
THORPE ACHURCH
Asechurch (xi cent.), Torpe and Achirche (xii cent.),
Thorp, Asechirche (xiii cent.), Thorp Watervill,
Acherche (xiv cent.).
The parish of Thorpe Achurch lies about 5 miles
south of Oundle and covers i ,608 J acres, most of which
arc laid down in grass. The land rises gradually
from the River Nene which forms the western boun-
dary of the parish and is for the most part about
100 ft. above the ordnance datum, although it reaches
157 ft. near the church of Achurch. Along the valley
of the river the soil is alluvium and the subsoil is
formed of the great 1 olite scries, red marl and Oxford
clay.
The village of Achurch is in the northern part of
the parish and lies a little to the west of the mrin
road from Wellingborough and Thrapston to Oundle.
It consists of a farm and 16 cottages, the church of
St. John and the rectory, which is a picturesque
" YorkcMS.(printed),whcrf the inscrip-
tion 18 given, p. 30. The name of Rysbrack
(loei not occur on the monument.
, •* They were recastings of five oIH bells,
two of which were cracked. They were
liung in the tower in new frames in the
lummer of 1728, and about the same time
a new clock wns provided. The inscrip-
tioni arc given in North, Cb. Bells oj
ynrlkantSy 408.
•' In in inventory of 171 1 arc recorded
a silver gilt cup and cover given in 170S,
a small silver cup, a silver dish for bread,
and two pewter flagons dated 1647. The
whole of this was exchanged in 1734 for
the present set. Markham, Cb. Pluie of
Noribanis, 271.
"Notes to Yorke's MS. 1884. A few
extracts, mostly relating to the lords of
the manor cr to the rectors, are given,
pp. 26-27.
" .Markham, Crosses of Northants, 107.
The socket is let diagonally, and the lower
part of the shaft is still in the hole.
•' llist. of Noribanis. ii, 378. Ashton
was rector 1390-1435.
" I'hc elTigy is 1 1 ft. east of the chancel,
slightly to the north. It is probably in
its original position, though now out-
side.
" Roi. Hug. de H'elUs (Cant, and York
Soc), ii, eo8, 140; Roi. Ric. Cravtsend
(Cant, and York Soc), 126 ; Dc Banco R.
42, m. Szd ; Feet of F. Northants.
Mil. 6 Kdw. II; Mich. 14 Edw. Ill;
Mich. 26 Edw. Ill ; Div. Cos. Trin.
44 Edw. Ill ; Northants. Trin. 18 Hen.
VlII ; East. 5 Eli?.. ; Recov. R. Trin.
Phil, and Mary, ro. 546 ; ibid. 9 Will. Ill,
ro. 185; Insiit. Bks. P.R.O. In 1823
a recovery suggests that Sir James
I.angham, Bart, owned the advowson,
but presumably he only held land or
tithes in the parish (Recov. R, Mich.
4 Geo. IV, ro. 285).
•' Pope Nub. Tax (Rec. Com.), 39b ;
Cott. MS. Vesp. E xxii, f. bod.
•• /.. and r. Hen. VI II, vol. xvi, g. 1216
(10).
•• Chantry Certif. (P.R.O.), 35.
'" Ct. of Req. bdle. 98, no. 25.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
gabled stone house built about 1633, with mullioned
windows and two-storied porch. Most of the
inhabitants, however, live at Thorpe VVaterville,
about a mile to the south of the church and on the
west side of the main road. Near the river here are
the remains of Thorpe Waterville Castle, built by
Walter de Langton, Bishop of Lichfield,* who held the
manor from 1300 to 1307 and had licence to crencllate
his house there in 1301.-
The castle is mentioned in 1307, after the forfeiture
of his lands, when the gate of the castle and chapel
are referred to.* In the next century, the castle is
regularly mentioned with the manors (j.f.) and in
1461 it was held for the Lancastrians against Edward
IV, who ordered Sir John Wenlock to besiege it with
three cannon.^ Presumably it was more or less
destroyed at this time. A constable was appointed
certainly as late as 1485,^ and in 1537, ' le Parke ' in
the castle is mentioned.* About the same time
John Leland refers to the ruins of the outer wall of
the castle as he passed through the village.' The
castle was apparently of the type of fortified manor
house which was being built early in the 14th century.
Only a portion of this house survives, which for a long
time has been used as a barn. It is built of stone
and measures externally 70 ft. in length from north to
south, by 25 ft. 10 in. in width. This structure,
which has a plinth all round and a gable at each end,
was originally of two stories, but the upper floor has
long been removed, and wide openings' have been
made in the middle of the side walls. There is
evidence of a partition having run across the building
at its centre and a two-story gabled porch is said to
have stood on the east side until about a century ago.*
At the north end, corbelled out from the first floor,
is a chimney, the upper part of which, above the
gable, is octagonal and battlemented, and on either
side of the chimney is a circular moulded opening,
nearly 2 ft. in diameter. There is said to have been
a similarly constructed chimney at the south end.*"
There arc loop windows in the longer sides, and the
roof principals have moulded collars and kingposts.
The walls arc 3 ft. thick and the roof is covered with
thatch. All the remaining arcliitcctural features arc of
14th century date. Thorpe station, near the village,
is on the Northampton and Peterborough branch of
the London Midland and Scottish Railway. The
parish was inclosed by Act of Parliament in 1772.*'
Robert Browne (1550-1630 f), who formed the
first Independent congregations in England, was
rector of Thorpe Achurch from 1 591 for 40 years.
He liad, however, finished his active career as an
itinerant preacher, before Lord Burghley presented
him to the benefice. ^^
The two manors of THORPE
MANORS WATERVILLE and ACHURCH were
held together throughout their history.
In Domesday Book, both parts of the parish were
entered under the heading of ' Asechurch,' which was
then held of the Abbey of Peterborough. l'' They were
held by knight service and is. was due for guard of the
Castle of Rockingham. As each knight of the Abbey
of Peterborough was quit of service in the time of
peace for a payment of 4J. a year, it is probable that
the two manors were held as two knights' fees.** The
overlordship of Peterborough** is last mentioned in a
law-suit between Abbot Kirketon and Lady Margaret
Beaufort, the tenant for life, as to the rent due to
the Abbey.*' After the Dissolution, the manors
were held in chief of the Crown.*'
In 1086, Ascelin and two Englishmen held 6i hides
of land of the Abbey in Achurch,*' but in the North-
amptonshire Survey of the following century, the
Englishmen disappear and Ascelin de VVaterville was
the tenant of the land in Thorpe and Achurch.*' An
Ascelin de VVaterville appears
amongst the knights of Peter-
borough in 1 1 25-1 1 28.-" Pos-
sibly there were two Ascelins,
father and son, who succeeded
each other. After 11 26, but
before 1155, Hugh de VVater-
ville, the son of Ascelin
herited the manors.^*
heir was another Ascelin
before 1189 his son or grand
HI 1 1 • J 1 Waterville. ArP':»t
ugh, wiio claimed the „ , /
o ' crustily and a jcae
office of hereditary high dancetiy gula.
steward of Peterborough, was
holding Thorpe Waterville.-' Between 1 1 97 and 1 21 1,
Richard, son of the second Hugh, had succeeded.-^ He
was living in 1240-* and, together with his son John, his
name appears in the list of the anniversaries observed
at Peterborough Abbey.-' John must have predeceased
his fatlier, whose heirs were his sister Maud and
Alice. Thorpe and Achurch apparently formed part
of Maud's moiety and passed in 1241, to Reginald de
Waterville, said to be her son.^' He joined Simon
de Montfort and his manors were forfeited on his being
taken prisoner at Northampton in 1264. He was
pardoned two years later and held his lands till his
death in 1287.^' His heirs were the heirs of his daugh-
ters, Robert de Vere, son of Joan, Robert de Wykham,
son of Maud or Elizabeth, and his third daughter,
3 w
' Pytchlcy, Ilk. of Fca (Norlhants.
Rcc. Sor), 42. Bridget [Ilisl. Norlhiinls.
ii, 367) st.ttci th.it it was prob.Tbly built
b^ Aicclin dc Waterville, but there seems
to be no historic.'il or arcl)itectur.il evi-
dence for this early date.
'Cat. Pal. 121J2-1301, p. 561.
•Sparte, llnl. /Ing. Script. (Var.),
172 J P.R.O. Mini. Accts. Gen. Scr.
bdlc. 1 132, no. 2.
' Cat. Pal. 1461-67, p. 28.
' Rol. Pari. (Rec. Com), vi, 372.1.
• L. and P. Hen. yill, ii, g. 1008
{"9)-
' l.cland, liincrary, ed, 1744, i, f. 6.
•The openings are 12 It. wide.
• T. L. Selhy in jliwc. Arch. Soc. Rep.
(1861), Ti, 64-^, where it is stated that the
porch was pulled down ' about thirty-six
years ago.'
"•Ibid, where it is said to have been
' removed probably a himdred years
since ' (fr(Mn 1861).
" Slat. 12 Geo. Ill, c. 105.
' ' Did. A'<J/. Biof.
"I'.C.II. Xorthann. i, 316a.
" Kgeiton MS. fll.M.), 2733, f. 148.
''' Val. Chan, iv, 276; Egerton MS.
fll.M.), 2733, (. I26d ; Cott. MS. Vesp. E
xxii, ft. 4<)d, 104 ; FriiJ. /lids, iv, p. 48 ;
Bridges, Hiil. Norlhanls. ii, 365.
■» Ibid.
" Pat. R. 5 Udw. VI, pt. 7.
"I'.C.II. Narihanli. i, 3160.
■» Ibid. 366*.
'" Cbron. Pttroh. (Camden Soc), p. 169.
•' Sparkc, //«;. Angl. Scripi. (Var.), 88 ;
Dugtiair, Man. Ani^l. i, 393. " Ibid.
•" Pytchlcy, Ilk. of Feel (Northanti.
Rec. Soc), 4';«.
'* Feel of Fines (Pipe Roll Soc), xx, no.
IS4; Red Ilk. Fxcb. (Rolls Scr.), 618;
Wrotletlcy, Prd. from the Plea Rolls, 4S2.
" (,'ii/. Close, 1237-42, p. 221.
'" Dugdilc, Mon. .inj^l. i, p. 362.
"Cott. MS. I'leop. I" ii, f. 133;
Feet of K. Norlhanls. East. 25 Hen, III,
no. 460. Maud was living in 1 24S, and
was apparently then the wife of William
de Palmus. If. ibid. East. 27 lien. Ill,
no. 472.
"Cal. Pal. 1258-66, pp. 359, 634;
ibid. 1266-72, p. 10; Chron. Ptlroh .
(Camden Soc), 142.
136
NAVISFORD HUNDRED thorpe achurch
Margaret, the wife of Henry de Titclim.irsli,^'
Reginald appears, however, to have sold Thorpe and
Achurch to Simon dc Eylesworth (Ailsworth), rector
of Thrapston,** who did homage and fealty to the
abbot of Peterborough for the manor of Thorpe
VN'aterville in 1291.^' Simon conveyed the manors
to William de Louth, bishop of Ely (l 290-8), and
he to William Tuchet, his kinsman. Tuchet conveyed
the manors to Walter de Langton, bishop of Coventrv,
in exchange for lands in Leicestershire on condition
that if Tuchet were impleaded concerning the Leices-
tershire lands he might re-enter upon these manors.^-
Walter de Langton seems to have obtained a con-
tirniation of title in 1300 from Robert de Vere and
Robert dc Wykham.'''' He did homage to the Abbot
in 1303. '^ After his fall in 1307, Edward II seized
his lands and granted them before 1313 to Aymer de
\'alence. Earl of Pembroke, for life, but the terms of the
condition as to the Leicestershire land having come
into operation, his possession was disputed by William
Tuchet, who forced an entry by means of ladders and
seized the castle of Thorpe Waterville.*' John de
Hotot also made claim to the manors.'* In 13 14,
the Earl, at the request of the King, granted them to
Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, receiving other lands in
exchange." In 1316, the Earl of Lancaster obtained
quit-claims of their rights to the manors from the
Bishop, William Tuchet and John de Hotot.'* In
1 3 19 the Earl granted them to his secretary, Robert
de Holand.** After Lancaster's rebellion and defeat
in 1322, Holand surrendered his manors to the King,
who granted them in fee tail to Aymer dc Valence
Earl of Pembroke and Mary his wife.'"' The latter,
after her husband's death in 1 324, granted Thorpe
Waterville and Achurch in 1329 to Maud, widow of
Robert de Holand.'" Her son and heir, Robert de
Holand, renewed a settlement
made by his father in 1322, by
which various remainders were
created in tail male, but the
final remainder was to the
right heirs of Robert de
Holand.''^ Robert de Holand
died in 1373 leaving a grand-
daughter, Maud, the wife of
John Lord Lovel, daughter of
his son Robert.*' The manors
of Achurch and Thorpe Water-
ville, being settled on the heir
male of Robert the father,
passed to his nephew John Holand Duke of Exeter,
who was beheaded in 1400. The Duke's lands were
Holand. Azure pow-
dered tvttb Jleurs de Us
and a lion argent.
restored in 141 7 to John his son, who was created
Duke of Exeter in 1 444. lie died in 1446, leaving a
son Henry, Duke of Exeter, who was attainted and
beheaded in 1461.*'' Edward IV granted the manors
of Acluirch and Thorpe Waterville in the same year to
his sister Anne, the wife of the last Duke, first for
life, and then with remainder to the heirs of her body.**
The manors were held in trust on her behalf''" and in
1477 the trustees granted them to Thomas, Marquis
of Dorset, the King's stepson, and he granted them
to his brother Richard Grey.'" The latter died
without heirs of his body and on the accession of
Richard III, they seem to have reverted to the Crown.
Erancis, Viscount Lovel, however, claimed them under
the Holand settlements of 1322 and 1331, as the right
heir of the second Robert de Holand, whose daughter
and heir married John Lovel.''* In 1485, Lovel's
lands were forfeited and Henry VII granted Thorpe
Waterville and Achurcii to his mother. Lady Margaret
Beaufort, for life.''* On her death, they remained in
the King's hands until 1525, when Henry VIII granted
them to his illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy, Duke
of Richmond and Somerset.^" The Duke died in
1536^' and the next year Thorpe Waterville and
Achurch manors were granted to Sir William Fitz-
William and his heirs male.*^ This grant must for
some reason have been revoked, since in 1544, they
were granted to Queen Katherine for life.^' After
her death, Edward VI granted them to Sir William
Cecil, later Lord Burghley,** and they remained in
Cecil, Earl of Kxctcr.
Barry of ten pieces
argent and azure six
scutcheons sable with a
lion argent in each.
Powvs, Lord Lilford.
Or a UfirCs paw razed
and bend-wise between
two crosslcts /itchy gules.
the possession of his descendants the Earls of Exeter,
till 1773,°^ when they were sold to Thomas Powys of
Lilford.^' His descendant. Lord Lilford, is the lord
of the manor at the present day.
Richard de Waterville had a grant of free warren
"Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, f. 141;
Plae. de Quo li'arr. (Rec. Com.), 570.
" Pytchlcjr, if*, of Fees (Northanti
Rec. Soc), 41.
■ " Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), p. 149.
" Pytchlcjr, op. cit. 41.
•• Feet ot F. Northants. Trin. 29
F.dw. I, no. 58 ; ibid. Div. Cos. 29 Edw. I,
no. 258 ; Jchn de V'cre, son of Robert de
Vere, was holding lands in Achurch
(Drayton Ch. no. 47).
" Cott. MS. Vesp. E «ii, f. 49d.
•• Pytchley, op. cit. 42.
•• Col. Pat. 1313-17, pp. 44, 7». Ui-
•' Cal. Chart, iii, 242 ; Feud. Aids,
ir, 18.
•• Mins. Aces. (Duchy of Lanes.)
(P.R.O.), bdle. I, no. 3 ; Feet of Fines,
Northants, East. 9 Ed. II ; ibid. Hil.
9 Edw. II.
••Ibid. Hil. 12 Edw. II; Cal. Pat.
1317-21, p. 431.
" Cal. Pal. 1321-24, pp. 87, S8.
"Cal. Close 1327-30, pp. 281, 581;
Pot. Pari, ii, 27b.
" Feet of Fines, Northants. Hil.
4 Edw. III.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Edw. Ill (lit
DOS.), no, 19.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Edw. Ill (ist
nos.), no. 19; Fend. /Jii^, iv, 48, 51.
" Cal. Pat. 1461-67, pp. 7, 104.
"Ibid. 533; Rot. Pari. (Rcc. Cor.),
V, 602a ; vi, 75a.
•' Cal. Pat. 1467-77, pp. 147, 582;
Pot. Pari. (Rcc. Com.), vi, 217a and b.
" Ibid. 244a, 254b-255b.
"Cal. Pat. 1485-94, pp. 154-7.
"L. and P. Hen. VIll, iv, no. 1500.
•' G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
•' Pat. R. 29 Hen. VIII, no. 873.
" Ibid. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 17.
"Ibid. 5 Edw. VI, pt. 7.
" Cal. S. P. r>om. 1541-80, pp. 84, 88 ;
Feet of Fines Div. Cos. Mich. 1649;
East. 22 Chas. II; Hil. 8 Will. Ill;
Recov. R. Hil. 7 Will, and Mary,
ro. 76 ; ibid. Trin. 10 Geo. I, ro. 51.
••Close R. 6369, no. 7; Recov. R.
Mich. 6 Geo. IV, ro. 265 ; G.E.C.
Complete Peerage.
137
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
in his demesne lands in Thorpe in 1 235." The same
right was granted to William Tuchet in 1300 and to
the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield a few months
later,^* and it was claimed by the Countess of Pem-
broke and her feoffee Maud de Holand.''
A water-mill is mentioned in 1330, and was held
with Thorpe Waterville manor. It had then been
recently reconstructed. '^ It was leased in 1519 with
other demesne lands to Miles Brykehead and his wife
Joan for 21 years'' and is mentioned again in the grant
of the manors to Sir William Fitzwilliam.'^
The church of ST. JOHN-THE-BAP-
CHURCH TIST consists of chancel 32 ft. 3 in. by
16 ft. 6 in., nave 54 ft. 9 in. by 19 ft.,
north and south transepts, north aisle, south porch,
and west tower surmounted by a broach spire. The
tower is 10 ft. 3 in. square and the width across the
transepts 45 ft., all these measurements being internal.
of the easternmost window is lowered to form a
seat.
The transepts are identical in size, being 12 ft. 6 in.
in widtn by 10 ft. 6 in. deep,*^ and are separated from
the nave by pointed arches. The end windows are
of two lights with geometrical tracery similar to that
in the westernmost window of the chancel, but the
one on the north is wholly restored. At the east
end of the north wall of the north transept is a trefoil-
headed recess, probably a piscina, but the sill is
covered. The end of the south transept is wholly
covered by the monument to Sir Thomas Powys."
The windows of the nave are similar to those in the
transepts, but the tracery is modern.
The tower is of three stages, with moulded plinth
and projecting vice at the north-west angle weathering
back at the level of the bell-chamber. The spire is
carried on a trefoiled corbel table and has plain angles
Scale of Feet
Plan of Thorpe Achurch Church
mSIUCcNTURYLATE
C] Modern
The aisle and porch are additions made in 1862, when
the church was extensively restored, and in 191 2 an
organ chamber was built on the north of the chancel
against the transept ; with these exceptions the build-
ing is all of one date, having been erected c. 1280-90
on a regular cruciform plan, with transcptal chapels
opening from the east end of the nave. The roofs
are all modern and covered with grey slates ; the
walling is of coursed rubble with buttresses and
dressings of ashlar and having corbel tables to chancel
and nave. The aisle has a plain parapet.
The chancel is of two bays with gabled buttresses
of two stages, and cast window of three trefoiled
lights, the geometrical tracery of which is a modern
copy of the original. The other windows in the
chancel are of two trefoiled lights with simple geome-
trical tracery, one on the north side and three on the
south, diflferiiig in detail and in part restored. At
the west end of the south wall arc the remains of a
rectangular low-side window, now blocked, and
without architectural features. The walls arc plas-
tered internally and no piscina is visible, but the sill
and two sets of lights on each of the cardinal faces
The west doorway has a segmental head of two
moulded orders and shafted jambs ; there is a single
light window over and in the stage above a tall
round-headed window. On the north and south
the lower stage is blank, but the middle is pierced by
a quatrefoil opening within a circle. The bell-chamber
windows are of two plain lancets with trefoiled circle
in the head within an enclosing arch, the hood-
mould of which is continued round the tower as a
string. The tower arch is of three chamfered orders,
the inner resting on moulded corbels, the outer
dying out.
The font, which stands in the south transept, is
ancient, and consists of a plain octagonal bowl and
stem.
The church was reseated in 1862, but tbc pulpit,
choir stalls, and tower screen date from 1 91 2. In the
chancel are four 1 8th century brass candelabra, and
in the nave is an old oak chest with three locks.
The elaborate monument to Sir Thomas Powys in
the south transept was brought here from Lilford
" Cat. Chan, 1116-57, p. 111.
" Ibid. 1157-1300, p. 4S1 ; 1300-1316,
pp. 1, 77.
"Anile R. 631, (. 76.
"Ibid. I. 75.
" L. and r. Urn. I'lll, ii, g. 1008 (19) ;
iii, g. i86i (6).
"Pat. R. 2c) Men. VIII, pt. i.
" Or 13 ft. i( mr.iiurcd from the face of
(he nave wall, which il 30 in. thick.
"* The monnment blocks the south
window, but there ia a two-light window
in the enst w;ill. The cut wall of the
nor t h tr.iTiscpt is now covered by the
or^an chamber, and on the west the
transept is open to the aiilc.
TliORl't AcllURCH CllUKCll hRO.M THE NoRlll-SAST
NAVISFORD HUNDRED
THRAPSTON
church after its demolition in 1778. Sir Thomas,
who died in 1719, is represented in a reclining position
in his judge's robes, below a canopy supported by
Corinthian columns ; the inscription is by Matthew
Prior. There is also a blue stone floor-slab marking
the place of burial of Sir Tliomas, and others in
memory of his son Thomas (d. 1719), his grandson of
the same name (d. 1767), and Ambrose Powys (d. 1753);
on the wall is a tablet to the Hon. Charles Powys,
R.N. (d. 1804) and his brother Henry killed at Badajoz
in 1812, and also a brass plate to the third Baron
Lilford (d. i86i).«»
There are four bells, the first by Taylor and Co.,
of Loughborough, 1861, the second and third re-
castings by Taylor in 1898 of two bells dated
respectively 1675 and 171 1 (the latter by Henry
Penn, of Peterborougli), and the tenor by Thomas
Eayrc of Kettering, 1735.*' There were four bells
in 1552.
The plate consists of a silver cup, paten, and flagon
of 1669, given by Thomas Elmes to the church of
Lilford, and a silver alms dish of 1713, the gift of Sir
Thomas Powys."
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i)
baptisms, marriages, and burials, 1591-1669, with
gap from 1635 to 1644; (ii) baptisms 1670-1807,
marriages 1670-1755, burials 1671-72; (iii) burials
1678-1812; (iv) baptisms 1808-12; (v) marriages
1755-1812. The first volume contains a note by
Robert Browne, founder of the " Brownists," who
was rector for thirty years. The churchwardens'
accounts begin in 1784.
The churchyard is entered from the cast through
a lycli-gate erected in memory of the fourth Lord
Lilford (d. 1896).
The advowson of the rectory of
ADl'OU'SON Achurch has been held by the
tenants in demesne of the manor
since tlie early 13th century. Richard de Water-
villa presented before 1219** and the advowson
accompanied all subsequent grants of the manor.**
In 1439, three fcoflees of John, Duke of Exeter, made
the presentation and™ in 1633 Thomas Ashton pre-
sented for one occasion." Lord Lilford is the
present patron.
The church land. On the inclosure
CHARniES of the commonfields in the parish an
allotment was awarded to the church-
wardens in lieu of their rights in the open fields. Tlic
allotment consists of about 18 acres of grass land and
is in the occupation of Lord Lilford at a yearly rent
of £1% which is applied to church expenses.
Richard Ragsdale by will 30 Jan. 1711, gave 20/.
yearly to the poor. This is paid out of land belonging
to Lord Lilford and applied by the Rector in aid of
the Village Coal Club.
THRAPSTON
Trapestone (xi cent.), Thrapeston (xiii and xiv
cent.).
The parish of Thrapston contains 1,149 *cres of
land and is low-lying, being only about 100 ft. above
the ordnance datum. The subsoil is alluvium, near
the bed of the River Nene, which forms the western
boundary of the parish, upper lias, great oolite series
and Oxford clay. The Thorpe brook forms part of
the eastern boundary. About half the acreage is
arable land and the remainder grass land, with
practically no woods. A quarry is mentioned in 1330,
and mines and quarries in a sale of the manor in
1770.' There is an ironstone quarry at the present
day, but the Nene Side Iron Works which once
flourished no longer exist.
Thrapston is a small market town, probably owing
its prosperity to its situation near the bridge over the
Nene, towards which bridge several roads converge. It
is the head of the Thrapston Petty Sessional Division,
the Thrapston and Oundle County Court District
and the Thrapston Rural District. It was almost
entirely rebuilt in the 19th century, the later buildings
being of red brick. A few older houses remain ; a
cottage in the Huntingdon road is dated 175S, 2nd
the Baptist Chapel adjoining bears a tablet recording
that " This place of Worship was built by public
Subscription A.D. 1787, for the Propagation of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ." It is a plain brick building
of two stories. There is also a Wcsleyan Chapel in
the town.
There is a market place in the centre of the town
and the church and manor house lie on its north side.
The bridge over the Nene is mentioned in 1224, when
Bishop Hugh of Welles granted an indulgence to
travellers contributing to its repair^ and in 1313
Bishop Dalderby granted an indulgence for the
fabric of the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr next
the Bridge of Thrapston.' In the later 14th and early
15th centuries, the bailifTs and men of Thrapston
obtained several grants of pontage for the repair of
the bridge.* Leland about 1543 mentions a stone
bridge with eight arches,' but in a brief for its repair
of 1664 it is said to have twenty-four arches.*
The Leper Hospital of St. Leonard existed in the
1 2th and 13th centuries, but nothing is known of its
history and it probably had no endowment.'*
" There are alio memoriali in the
church to the firit and terond Baroni
(1800, 1825), the Rev. Littleton Powyt
(d. 1842), the Hon. Adelaide .Marjr
Powyi(d. i873),Thomai Atherton Powyi
(d. i8$i), eideit ion of the 4th Baron,
and Thomas Atherton Powjri (d. 1909),
the two latter in the chancel.
•• The inicriptions are given in North,
Cb. Brllt of SoTibanit. 175. Thoje on
the iccond and third have been retained
in factimile. On the bell frame ii cut
• W. Selby, c.w. |S|6.'
•' MarUiam, Ch. Phle 0/ Noribanit.
281. The alma dish bean the arms of
Powyi impaling Mcdowi ; Sir Thomas's
second wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir
Philip Medows.
•• Rol. Hug. di ll'ellcs (Cant, and York
Soc), i, J.
•• Rol. Ric. Gravesend (Cant, and York
Soc), 122; Cal. Pal. 1307-13,428; Chart.
R. 8 Edw. II, m. 20, no. 42 ; Pat. R.
29 Hen. VIII, pt. I i 35 Hen. VIII, pt.
17; 5 Edw. VI, pt. 7; Instit. Bks.
(PRO), 1638, 1643, 1685, 1737, 1743,
'74S1 1778 i Close R. 13 Geo. Ill, rn. 19,
no. 7.
139
"> Bridges, Hill. Nonbanti. ii, 365.
"Instit. Bks. (P.R.O.), 1633.
'Cum. Pleas. Assiie R. 632, t. 73;
Eect of F. Northants. Trin. 10 Geo. III.
• Rot. Hug. de Welln (Cant, and York
Soc), ii, 207, 219.
• Line. Epii. Reg. Memo. Dalderby,
f.2<;3.
« Cal. Pal. 1367-70, p. 273 ; 1381-1385,
pp. 116, 556; 1385-89, P- 457; '39'-9^
p. 108 ; 1408-13, p. 281.
• Leland, //incrrfry, ed. 1744, p. 6.
• ('al. S.P. Dom. 1663-64, p. 32O.
•• r.C.H. Norlhanli. ii, 166.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
OOO
There is a station on the Northampton and Peter-
borough branch of the London Midland and Scottish
Railway, which crosses the parish. Thrapston mill
is on the river Nene, to the south of the town. A
water mill is mentioned as parcel of the manor in
1336 and 1355.' The parish was inclosed by .Act of
Parliament in 1780.'*
There is no mention of a pre-Conquest
MANORS tenant in THRAPSTON, but in 1086
Oger the Breton held 2j hides.* In the
following century 2 hides and I virgate were held by
his son Ralph fitz Oger of the fee of Bourne in Lin-
colnshire.* The honour of Bourne passed to the
Wakes and Baldwin Wake granted his holding to
Robert de \'cre, in the latter half of the 1 2th century. '"
The overlordship was held by
the Wakes, until 1350, when it
passed to Margaret, Countess
of Kent,** sister and heir of
Thomas Wake. On the death
of her son John, Earl of Kent,
it went to his sister Joan, the
wife of Sir Thomas Holand,*^
but Elizabeth, the widow of
John, held it in dower till her
death in 1411.1^ In the in-
terval four Earls of Kent had
died,** and in 1424 Joan,
daughter of Thomas Holand
and Joan, above mentioned, died seised of the rent of
50/. from half a knight's fee in Thrapston. Her
property was divided amongst her six sisters or their
descendants** and the overlordship probably disap-
peared after this. In 1481 Roger Wake, of Blisworth,
was stated to be the overlord,** and in 1493 Edward,
Earl of Wiltshire,*' but both statements were probably
due to a confusion with the tenure of other property.
The manor of Thrapston was granted by Baldwin
Wake to Robert de Vere, and followed the descent
of Great Addington {q.v.), where the Veres lived,
until the iHth century, when Thrapston was sold.
In 1335 during Ralf de Vere's tenancy an extent
of the manor of Thrapston shows there was there
a capital messuage with two gardens, 100 acres of
arable land in demesne, 10 acres of meadow, 10 free
tenants, 10 native tenants, 10 cottages, a water mill,
and a market and fair.** Alice, widow of John de
Vere, in 1386 had her dower in Tlirapston, including
the profits of the market and fair, the common oven
and a cottage in ' le Draperie.'** Thrapston was sold
Wake. Or two ban
tvitb three roundels gules
in the chief.
to Humphrey Morice (d. 1731), a merchant and M.P.
for Grampound, or to his son of the same name
(d. I785).2'' It was sold by the latter in 1770 to
Lejnard Burton,^* and the Burton trustees were hold-
ing in l874.'^2 Mr. John Pashler afterwards held the
manor, and his widow now holds it.
The third part of the manor, which went to
Etheldreda, the youngest daughter of Henry Vere, on
his death in I493, was still in her possession, as a
widow, in 1553.-^ She gave it to her son, George
Browne, and it passed to his son, Wystan,^* but before
1572 her third part seems to have been again divided
amongst heiresses, as transactions as to their thirds
of one-third of the manor were carried out by
Christiana Browne in 1572,-5 and Catherine Browne
in 1576,^* and later by Christiana, the wife of John
Tufton, Mary, the wife of Thomas Wilfride and
Catherine, the wife of William Rooper." The last
of these transactions was in 1 590 ; no later history of
this part of the manor appears, and it was probably
conveyed to the Mordaunts.
In the 14th century Ralph de Vere claimed view of
frank-pledge, pillory and tumbrels in the manor,^
and the view is mentioned in l66829 and again in
1770.'"
In the time of Edward the Confessor, Burred held
freely 3 virgates of land in Thrapston.^* In 1086
Clare. Or three cbeve-
rons gules.
Stafford. Or a ibeve-
ron gules.
this land was held of the Bishop of Coutances,^- but
after his fief escheated it was granted to the Clares,
this holding apparently formed part of half a knight's
fee held of the fee of Clare in Thrapston, Dcnford and
Ringstead.^^ After the death of the last Gilbert de
Clare at Bannockburn, this half fee passed to his
eldest sister, Margaret,^* and through her to the
Earls of Stafford.^* The last overlord mentioned
was Edward, Duke of Buckingham, who was attainted
and beheaded in 1521,^* and the half fee was presum-
ably held of the Crown after lliat date.
' Hal stead, SMffiHr/Cz-wrd/ogiVi, 268, 270.
" Private Art oj Pari. 20 Geo. lll,c. 59.
' y.C.II. Norlbants, i, 349.
•Ibid. 365; Cott. MS. Veip. E xxii,
f. 94.
>' Plac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.),
500; the charter it given in M.ilstead's
Succinet Cenealo'^jes, l''94, p. is'i-
" /Ik. of Fees (I'.R.C), ii, p. 937;
Cat. Irnj. ii, no. 439 ; Cal. Close 1272-79,
p. 259; Tear Books (Rolli Ser.), 18-19
Ediv. Ill, pp. 246-264 ; Cal. Iiiij. ix,
not. 219, 234.
*■ Cal. tnq. X, no. 46,
"Cal. Close, 1349-54, p. 553; Chan.
In(|. p.m. 12 Hen IV, no. 35.
'« Ibid. 20 Ric. II, no. 30; G.E.C.
Complete Peerage.
"Ibid.; Chan. In.|. p.m. lien. IV,
file 66, no. 43.
'• Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. IV, file 74,
no. II.
" E\ch. In<]. p.m. Scr. ii, vol. 673, no. 2.
" Drayton Ch. 91 ; Cal. Close, 1337-39,
p. 144 ; llalstcad, op. cit. 268.
'" Dr.iyton Ch. 45.
'» D.\.JI. ; Bridget, op. cit. ii, 3S0.
'* Feet of I'. Northnnts. Trin. 10 Geo.
Ill ; Recov. R. Trin. 10 Geo. Ill, ro. 749.
" Whcllan, I/ist. of Aorthants, p. 732.
"Common Pleat Recov. R. Hil.
I Mary, ro. 415.
" Chan. I'roc. (Ser. ii), 82 (15).
" Common Pleat Recov. R. Eait.
14 Eliz. ro. io68.
■« Ibid. Trin. 18 Eli«. ro. 1107.
" Feel of F. Northantt. Mich. iX and 19
Eliz. ; ibid. Trm. 32 Flir.
" Plac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.), 500 ;
Halttcad, op. cit. p. 268.
140
" Feet of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 10 and 21
Chat. II.
" Feet of F. I^orthanls. Trin. 10
Geo. III.
•' y.C.H. Northanis. i, 311 A.
•' Cott. MS. Vcsp. Exxii, f. 94 ; I'.C.ll.
Northanis, \, 31 Ii'', 365(1.
•• Colt. MS. Veip. E xxii, f. 94 ; Rot.
Ilund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 8 * ; Feud. Aids,
iv, 449.
" Cal. Im;. v, no. 538 ; G.E.C. Com-
plete Peerage.
»» Atsi/e Roll, no. 6)2, f. 76; Chan.
Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (i«t not.), no. 62;
ibid. 10 Ric. II, no. 3S ; ibid. 16 Ric. II,
pt. i, no. 27; ibid. 18 Ric. II, no. 43;
ibid. 4 Hen. IV, no. 41 ; Cal. Pat.
1401-05, p. 349.
•• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), xxx, 117 j
G.E.C. Comptrle Peerage.
NAVISFORD HUNDRED
THRAPSTON
In 1086, Odelin held this land of the Bishop," and
his son Robert was the tenant under the Clares early in
the I2th century.*'* Towards the end of the century
the tenant was Riclurd de Marun,^ but it is difficult
to trace the descent of the land in Thrapston. In 1236
Maud, the wife of William Hay, was dealing with land
in Thrapston, and in 1242 William Hay held an eighth
part of a knight's fee there and in Denford.'" Be-
tween 1252-3 and 1263, William de Shardclawe and
his wife Joan were parties to various fines levied on
land in Thrapston which were part of her inheritance.'"
The next tenants seem to have been John Spigurnel
and his wife .Mice.''^ In 1310, they settled a con-
siderable estate in Thrapston, Woodford and Den-
ford on themselves and the heirs of their bodies, with
remainder of John, son of Roger Bozun.** Before
1330, John Bozun sold one quarter of a knight's fee in
Thrapston to Bernard de Brus, the son of John de
Brus of Thrapston.*'' Athelina, daughter of Ber-
nard, is mentioned in 1367 in connection with other
property,*' but the next tenants were William
Everard de Sutton in Holand and his wife Alice, who
settled the manor of Thrapston in 1379 on Hugh
Hekclyng and Richard Gcttyngton, clerks, with
warranty by the heirs of Alice.*' In 1387, amongst
the tenants of the half fee held of Hugh, Earl of
Stafford, appear Alice Vere, possibly identical with
Alice Everard, and Henry Petelyng, clerk.*' In 1392
they were succeeded by Margery Table,** in 1394 and
1396 by William Braunspath,** but in 1401 Margery
Table reappears.^ No further tenants are recorded
till 15 1 5, when William Thorley died seised of two
virgates of land and other property in Thrapston,
held of the Duke of Buckingham, his heir being his
son Richard.*' This holding, however, can only have
been a small part of the lands attached to the manor
of Thrapston, and presumably they had passed into
the hands of many tenants. They seem, however,
again to have come into the possession of one tenant
and the manorial rights revived, possibly when the
over-lordship passed to the Crown.**
In 1574 the manor of THR.4PST0N, alias
THRAI'&JON G 4LES, was held by John Gale, and
was possibly the manor formerly held of the honour
of Clare. Gale sold it to Henry Daye," who in
turn sold it in 1575 to Lewis, Lord Mordaunt.** In
1582 the latter obtained a quit-claim of the manor
from Anthony Muscott and his wife Ellen, presum-
ably the heir either of John Gale or Henry Daye.**
From this time the manor of Thrapston Gales was
held with Thrapston manor (j.e/.).**
The tenant of the land held of the Honour of Clare
did suit at the .Abbot of Peterborough's court for
Navisford Hundred." The Earl of Gloucester also
held a view of frankpledge, pleas ' de namio vctito,'
and the assizes of bread and ale for his tenants at
Thrapston.** He also had the return of writs,** and
his successors held a view of frankpledge and a court,
generally at Denford, for their tenants of the half fee
in Thrapston, Denford and Ringstead.*" In the early
part of the l8th century the Duke of Montagu held
the court of Navisford Hundred at Thrapston."
In 1205 Baldwin de Vere gave two palfreys for the
privilege of having a market every Tuesday,'- and his
market rights were specially reserved to him in the
agreement as to view of frankpledge made with the
Abbot of Peterborough.'* Ralph de Vere in 1330
claimed the market under a charter of Henry 111,'*
and presumably the succeeding lords of the manor of
Thrapston held a market there, as it was in the
possession of Sir John Germaine and his wife in
1706.** It was not mentioned in the sale of the
manor in 1770" to Leonard Burton, and in 1870 the
Thrapston Market Co. was formed by Act of Parlia-
ment, in which all control and profit of the market
and of the fairs are vested. In 1226 Baldwin de
Vere obtained a grant, until the coming of age of
Henry III, of a fair to be held on the eve and day of
St. Michael." A fair is now held on the first Tues-
day after old Michaelmas day.
Robert de Vere obtained the grant of another fair
in 1245 on the \igil, feast and morrow of St. James
the Apostle.** A fair was still held on St. James' day
early in the 1 8th century,'* and was afterwards kept
on 5 August, old St. James' day, but it had fallen into
disuse before 1874.'" The second fair is now held on
the first Tuesday in May.
The church of ST. JAMES consists
CHURCH of chancel 37 ft. 8 in. by 19 ft. 4 in.,
with organ chamber and vestry on the
north side, clearstoried nave, 50 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft.,
north and south aisles, each 12 ft. 8 in. wide, and west
tower, 13 ft. 6 in. by 11 ft., surmounted by a spire.
All these measurements are internal. The ground
floor of the tower forms the porch. The nave and
aisles," together with the chancel arch, were entirely
rebuilt in 1842 in the Gothic style of the period,
when galleries were erected on three sides. The
galleries still remain. In 1888 an old vestry which
had blocked a 14th century window in the chancel
was removed, and the present vestry built further
west. The building throughout is of rubble with
•' J'.C.H. Noribanli. i, 31 1 ».
•»Ibid. 365*.
" ERcrton MS. (B.M.), 2733 I. 155 d.
" Cal. Close 1234-37, 343 ; Bk. of Feet
(P.R.O.), ii, p. 936-
*' Fe«t of F. Northants. Jlil. 37 Men.
Ill; ibid. Trin. 45 Hen. Ill; ibid.
Trin. 47 Hen. III.
" Feet of F. Northanti. Mil. 22
F.dw. I j Ciil. Ituj. V. no. 538 j Ch.in. Inq.
p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (lit noi.), no. O2.
*' Feet of F.N'orthant S.Mich. 4 Edw. II.
«• Assiie R. no. 632, f. 76 ; Cal. Close,
'333-37, P- '^(^■
" Cal. Close, 1364-68, p. 366.
" Feet of F. Northanti. Hit. 2 Ric. II.
*' Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Ric. II, no 3S.
•' Ibid. 16 Ric. II, pt. i, no. 27.
«» Ibid. iS Ric. II, no. 43 ; 22 Ric. II,
no. 46.
" Ibid. 4 Hen. IV, no. 41.
** Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xxx, 1 17.
'- See above.
" Feet of F. Northants. Mich. i<> and
17 F.liz.
" Ibid. East. 17 Eliz.
" Ibid. nil. 24 Eliz.
'« Ibid. Trin. 22 Jas. I ; ibid. East.
2 Chas. I; ibid. Ilil. i and 2 Jas. II;
Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dcxxiv, 64.
" Egerton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 155 d.
" Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, S b ;
Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 114.
" Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 8 b.
"> Cal. Inij. iv, no. 435 ; v, no. 53X ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (ist nos.),
no. 62 ; 10 Ric. II, no. 38; 22 Ric. II, no.
46; Cal. Pal. 1401-05, p. 349.
" Bridges, Hist. Norihanis. ii, 379.
"' Pipe R. Northants, 7 John, m. 21 d.
" Swaflham Reg. cciii b.
" riac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 500 ;
I[.-.lstead, op. cit. p. 268.
«' Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 4
Anne.
" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 10 Geo.
III.
•' Rot. Litt. Claus. (Rec. Com.), ii,
p. 121.
•» Cal. Chart, i, 288.
" Bridges, Hist. Northants, ii, 379.
'° Whcllan, Hist. Northants^ 732.
'* 'I'he old nave and aisles were appa-
rently of 14th century date. Bridges
states that before the building of the two
aisles there seems, from the difTerence of
the fabric, to have been a cross aisle, or
two chapels, at each end : Hist. 0]
Northants. ii, 3S0. No evidence of this
remains.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
ashlar dressings, and has low-pitched roofs and plain
parapets. The walls inside are plastered.
The chancel is substantially of the later part of the
13th century, and retains strings, angle buttresses,
priest's doorway, and internally a double piscina of
that date. The piscina has two plain pointed arches
set within a larger arch, the tympanum being pierced
with a quatrefoil. In the 14th century an east
window of five lights with reticulated tracery (now
restored) was inserted, and long two-light windows
with transoms in the side walls. These windows,
two in the south wall and one in the north, have
cinquefoiled lights and a quatrefoil in the head.
West of the piscina, below the first window, are three
ogee-headed sedilia of 14th century date, with
crocketed arches and dividing shafts with moulded
capitals and bases. The seats are on one level. The
sanctuary was panelled in oak and a reredos erected
in 1920 as a war memorial.
The 14th-century tower has a battlemcntcd parapet,
and is of five stages marked by strings, with diagonal
buttresses and a vice at the north-east angle. The
west doonvay has a continuous series of wave
mouldings divided by deep casements, and over it is
a two-light window with modern tracery. The bell-
chamber windows are each of two cinquefoiled
lights with a quatrefoil in the head. Below the
parapet is a continuous row of square quatrefoiled
panels, and the gargoyles are set in the middle of each
side. The spire is without ribs, and has three sets
of lights on each of its cardinal faces. The tower arch
is of three chamfered orders, the inner carried on
responds with moulded capitals and bases.
The nave is of four bays, and retains most of the
fittings of the period of its erection. In the west wall
is set a stone with the arms
and crest of Washington. It
is without inscription, but is
said to commemorate Sir John
Washington, some members of
whose family are buried in
the churchyard. The font
dates from 1888.
There is a ring of eight bells,
cast in 1897 by John Taylor
and Co. of Loughborough.''^
The plate consists of a cup
and paten of 1570, and a cup,
paten, and flagon of 1855,
given by Alfred Wigan in i860. There are also a
pewter flagon, pewter plates and a brass alms
dish."
The registers before 181 2 are as follows: (i) bap-
l^l^tV
WASiiiNr.TON. Argent
ttL'O bars itntb three
motets gules in the cbtef.
tisms, marriages and burials 1560-1640; (ii) births and
baptisms, marriages, and burials 1653-87, with a few
earher notes (1641-52) on one page of births ; (iii)
parish clerk's paper register book 1643-87 ; (iv) parish
clerk's register 1688-1709; (v) baptisms and burials
1709-59, marriages 1709-54 ; (vi) marriages 1754-98 ;
(vii) parish clerk's book 1761-90; (viii) baptisms and
burials 1790-95 ; (ix) baptisms and burials 1796-1812,
marriages 1798-1812.
In the churchyard is the head of a medieval grave
slab with cross patonce.
The church of St. James '* was
ADVOWSON granted by Baldwin, son of Gilbert,
to the Abbey of Bourne in Lincoln-
shire, which he founded in 1138.'* The abbey held
the advowson until its dissolution in 1534, but from
1422 frequently granted away the presentation on a
particular occasion.'* From the Dissolution till the
present day the advowson has belonged to the Crown."
No vicarage was instituted, but the rector paid a
pension of 4s. a year to the abbey .'^ In 1600 Queen
Elizabeth granted certain tithes in Thrapston formerly
belonging to the abbey to the Bishop of Ely."
Three roods of land and a fishery in the Neve were
given for the maintenance of a light in Thrapston
church, and in 1552, Edward VI granted them to
Sir Thomas Tresham and George Tresham.**
Mary Allen in 1685 bequeathed £1
CHARITIES a year for poor widows. The sum
of ;{|20 which was appropriated to
answer this charity was applied towards building a
poor house, and £1 a year was formerly paid out of
the rates and distributed in bread.
By his will proved at Lichfield 31st October, 1878,
Matthias Royce Griffin gave ^^1,000 to the trustees of
the Baptist Chapel at Thrapston for the poor. The
sum was invested in stock now represented by
^^969 13/. lid. India 3^ per cent. Stock, producing
£33 I9-'- yearly in dividends. The income is dis-
tributed in kind among about 50 recipients.
The Reynold Hogg Fund is regulated by a scheme
of the Charity Commissioners dated l6th April, 1924.
The property originally consisted of a piece of land
in Church Street with buildings formerly used as a
Protestant Dissenting Chapel comprised in an inden-
ture dated 6 November, 1812. The property was
sold in 1924 and the proceeds invested in £177 19J. ^d.
5 per cent. War Stock, which stock was made up to
;f20O by the deacons of the Baptist Chapel who were
appointed trustees of the scheme. The income is
applied for the general purposes of the chapel.
The sums of stock are with the Oflicial Trustees of
Charitable Funds.
TITCHMARSH
Thichemcrs, Tychcmers (xiii cent.), Tychcmersh,
Tichmarsh (xiv cent.), Ticiimcrsh (xvii cent.).
The parish of Titchmarsh contains 3,988 acres, of
which more than two-thirds are under grass. The land
lies between 120 ft. and 175 ft. above the ordnance
datum. The river Nene forms part of the western
''They take the place of 3 ring of
five, ihe inicriplioni on which are given in
North, Cb. /fetiioj Nortbantt^^it). Theie
brll« were rc-cait and three new onci
a'lded ai a memorial of the Diamond
Jubilee of Queen Victoria. One of the old
belh wai o( 16th century date, and three
othcrt were dated reipcctivcly 1634, 1677,
and 1686.
" Markham, Cb. Piute of Nortbitnts,
283-
" Cal. Close, 1318-23, p. 328.
" Chart. K. I Edw. Ill, m. 24, no.
4'-
" Ibid. ; Rot.ll«g.d,lfellei{C»m. and
York Soc), i, 169; ii, iqo; iii, 2;
Koi. Rob. Crossttesle {Cant, and York See),
142
226; Epii. Reg. cit. Bridgci, op. cit. ii,
380.
" P.R.O. Initit. Bk». 1628, 1631, 1662,
1680, I70(), 171:5, 1789.
" Pope Nub. Tax (Rcc. Com.), 39 * ;
I'utor. F.eeles. (Rec. Coin.), iv, 103.
" I'at. R. 42 V.Wi. pt. 9, m. 4.
•» Ibid. 5 Edw. VI, pt. 7.
•-^'.SS
:^?'i^-__.M*i»-«^.
TiiKAPsroN Church from the North
NAVISFORD HUNDRED
TITCHMARSH
boundary and the Thorp brooL that of the north
and east. The sub-soil is alluvium, great oolite
series and Oxford clay. The parish was inclosed
under an Act of Parliament of 1778.' The name of
Foxholes, now a farm, is mentioned in 1227.'
The village lies off the main road from Northampton
to Peterborough, about 2j miles from Thrapston.
At the north-west end of the long village street is the
church. Not far from it is the rectory house, which
was rebuilt in 1861, and has in its garden a fine cedar
tree planted about 1744.' The Pickering almshouses
are to the south-west of the church on the Denford
road, and form a long one-story stone building with
dormer windows, a tablet records that "This Hos-
pital was erected and endowed for the support of
eight Poor Persons by Mrs. Dorothy Elizabeth
Pickering, eldest daughter of the late Sir Gilbert
Pickering, Bart., Anno Domini 1756." There is a
modern extension at each end.* Near by are two
blocks of cottages dated respectively 1742 and
1750.
The old manor house stood on the south side of the
village a quarter of a mile south-east ot the church, on
or near a site which has already been described.' The
date of its erection is not known, but it may have been
built of stone obtained from an older house known as
Titchmarsh Castle,* which seems to have been deserted
at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and the
ruins of which were taken down in the 1 8th century.'
The earlier building would be the house which Sir
John Lovcl in 1304 obtained licence to crenellate,'
and which in the inquisition on his death (1346-7)
was described as moated round and enclosed with a
stone wall after the manner of a castle.' In 1363,
however, the castle is returned as being in a ruinous
condition," and no part of it now remains above
ground. An excavation of the site by Sir Henry
Dryden in 1887,'^ however, revealed considerable
remains of the lower portion of numerous buildings,
apparently of two different periods, some of the older
having been destroyed before the others were erected.
It was found impossible from the fragmentary nature
of the remains and the confusion of the plan to appro-
priate the greater number of the buildings or to decide
the period of their erection. The material was all of
limestone, and Sir Henry Dryden was of the opinion
that theearliest buildingon the site had been bounded by
a wall nearly circular in plan, inclosing several irregular
buildings, of which some of the foundations uncovered
were portions. This first building he assumed to have
been pulled down when the house was reconstructed
by Sir John I.ovel, and he conjectured that it was an
early castle, built, as he suggests, by the Ferrers
f.imily, but possibly by the grandsons or great-
grandsons of Saswalo, the Domesday holder, in the
latter part of the l2tli century. If this was so, the
present quadrangular moat is of early 14th century
date, and belongs to Sir John Level's building, the
lower parts of whose external walls were laid bare
along the greater part of four sides, from 12 in. to
8 ft. in height above the bottom of the moat. The
space inclosed was an irregular parallelogram,"' and
at three of the angles were found the foundations of
tive-sided towers projecting from the walls ; the
north-west angle had disappeared. Boniface Picker-
ing died in 1585 seised of a pasture called Castle
Yard, with a barn standing in it wliich was again
mentioned in 1629."
A bridge carrying the main road to Peterborough
over the brook running into the Ncnc south of Thorpe
station, has remains possibly of medieval work on its
south side.
In the time of Edward the Confessor,
MANORS Bundi held freely 10 hides and a portion
of a hide in TITCHMARSH.^* In
1086 the land was held by Henry de Ferrers, ancestor
of the Earls of Derby,*' and
the overlordship of it con-
tinued in the possession of
the Earls of Derby as of their
Honour of Tutbury until the
forfeiture of Earl Robert in
1266." The overlordship
passed with the Honour to
Edmund, Earl of Lancaster,"
and later, with the Duchy of
Lancaster, to the Crown.'*
The Domesday under-tenant
was named Saswalo, who held
other lands of the Ferrers.''
This holding appears as forming first one and a half
knights' fees,^"and then as two knights' fees,^' through-
out the nth and 12th centuries. Sewal, son of Henry,
held it in I233,''2 and from him it passed to James
Shirley, said to be his son.^* Shirley granted the mesne
lordship to Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester,"* but
presumably only for a term of years, as his son, Ralph
Shirley, had recovered the lordship by 1286.2' Between
1298 and 1302 Ralph granted it to Bishop Walter de
Langton, the Royal Treasurer.^' On the latter's death
it passed to his nephew, Edmund Pevercl, a minor in
the wardship of the king." The Peverels continued
Ff-Rrers. Argent six
horseshoes sable.
• Priv. Act of Pari. 18 Geo. Ill, c. 8.
• Feet of F. Northanti, Trin. 11 Hen.
III.
• N. and Q. cliii, 103. The tree wai
damaged by a »tonn in March 1916 and
again in Jan. 19Z8.
•At the north end for "two Bedei-
women, erected A.D. 1857 by donation
of the late T. Coalcs, Esq.' : at the south
end (or ' two Bedesmen, erected A.D.
1863.' The original building hat four door-
wayi and eight windows on the ground
floor, and eight dormers in the roof.
» y.C.H. Nortbanls. ii, 413 (under
■ Homestead Moats ').
• More correctly a fortified manor-
house.
' Bridges, Hist. Northants. ii, 381.
• Cal. Pat. 1301-7, p. 290.
' .issoc. Arch. Soc. Rep. xxi, 245.
'" Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. Ill, file 14.
"Assoc. .Ircb. Soc. Rep. xxi, 243-52-
See also the measured drawings in the
Dryden Collection, Northampton Public
Library.
"The measurements from outside to
outside of opposite walls are thus given ;
north-east side about 238 ft., south-west
about 257 ft., south-east about 220 ft.,
north-west about 210 ft.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccix, 33;
cccclix, 44.
" y.C.H. Northants, i, 333a. " Ibid.
'• Ibid. 365* ,- Bk. of Fees, i, 495 ; Cal.
Inq. ii, no. 622 i G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
" Cal. Inq. i, 137.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 Hen. IV, no. 29 ;
ibid. (Ser. ii), ccxxix, 120.
H3
" y.C.H. Northants. i, 333a.
" Bk. oj Fees, i, 495.
•' Cal. Inij. ii, no. 622 ; Bk. of Fees, ii,
937. Sewal had two sons, Henry and
Fiilchcr, and Fulchcr also had two sons,
Henry and Sew.il, the latter of whom was
heir to his father and uncle. Cf. Round
in Derbyshire Arch. Soc. "Journ. 1905.
"And. Deeds, D. 286.
" E. P. Shirley, Slemmata Shirleiana,
362.
'* Tear Books (Rolls Ser.), 30-31
Edw. I, p. 8.
" Cal. Inq. ii, no. 622.
■' Ibid, iii, p. 302 ; v, no. 263 ; Tear
Books (Rolls Ser.), 30-31 Edw. I, p. 8.
*' Cal. Iruj. vi, no. 330 (the inquisition
enumerates only the lands held in demesne
by the Bishop).
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Shirley. Paly or and
azure with a quarter
ermine.
to be the mesne lords,-* but in 1 363 their fee was
again in the king's hands, and their rights seem to
have disappeared before 1408.^'
The Ferrers' land in Titchmarsh mav be identified
with the manor of TITCHMARSH, alias LOVELLS,
alias SOMERSETS. The first tenant in demesne of the
manor recorded was Ascelin
d° Sidenham,** who in 1224
hjd a law suit with the Abbot
of Peterborough as to suit of
court due from his tenants to
the courts of the Hundred of
Navisford.^i He was succeeded
by William de Sidenham,
who had died before 1233.^'^
William's heir was a minor,
and the wardship of his fees in
Titchmarsh was granted by
Sewal, son of Henry, to Sir
John de Plesseys,^^ who mar-
ried William's widow'* and held there in 1243.^5
Maud de Sidenham is said to have been William's
daughter and heir and to have married John Lovel
of Minster Lovel, but contemporary evidence of
this does not appear.^ John Lovel was undoubtedly
the tenant of the manor in
1268,^' and died seised of it in
1287.^ His son Sir John Lovel
was summoned to Parliament
as Lord Lovel of Titchmarsh
in 1299 and his descendants'*
held the manor until the for-
feiture of the lands of Francis,
Lord Lovel, in 1485.40 The
following year the King
granted Lovel's manor to
Charles Somerset, afterwards
Earl of Worcester.*^ His
grandson, William Earl of
Worcester, obtained a new grant of the manor in
1553,42 and in the same year sold it to Gilbert
Pickering.''^" Gilbert's son John (d. 1591) had a son
Gilbert, who married Elizabeth, daughter of . . .Hogard
of Bourn, in Cambridgeshire. He was succeeded in
1613 by his son John, who in 1609 had married
Susannah, daughter of Sir Erasmus Dryden.'"^ Their
son, Sir Gilbert Pickering, was created a baronet in
ruwi
njvu\
Lovel of Titchmarsh.
Barry tvavy or and
gules.
Pickering. Ermine a
lion azure crowned or.
1638, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Sidney
Montagu.'*'* He was an ardent Parliamentarian and
chamberlain to both protectors. He was one of the
regicide judges, but did not sign the death warrant
of Charles I, and obtained a pardon after the Restora-
tion.44* His great grandson, Sir Edward Pickering,
M.P., the fourth baronet, died unmarried in 1749,*°
and his estates passed to his two sisters, Elizabeth,
who died unmarried in 1766, and Frances, afterwards
the wife of Thomas Byrd.
She also died childless and a
widow in 1765, and by their
wills the sisters directed that
the Titchmarsh estate was to
be sold.'*' It seems, however,
to have been vested in trustees
before their deaths, as Frances
Byrd conveyed her moiety of
the manor and advowson in
1764 to Edward Dickenson,'*'
while Elizabeth's moiety ap-
parently was transferred to
Anne Pye.'** Before 1778 it
was acquired by Thomas Powys,** whose descendant,
Lord Lilford, is now lord of the manor.
In the early 13th century, the geld payable by
Titchmarsh was divided amongst the three holders of
fees there, Ascelin de Sidenham, Ralph, son of Ralph,
and Robert, son of Thomas.^" The holding of Ralph,
son of Ralph, may probably be identified with the
knight's fee held of John de Plesseys in 1242 by Ralph
de Titchmarsh, Robert le Her and William de
Suthburc.** Sir Ralph de Titchmarsh witnessed a deed
as to lands in Hemington in 1264^- and Robert
witnessed charters of a few years later.*' Ralph de
Titchmarsh whose heirs held a several fishery in the
Nene in 1348 may have followed in the descent.''*
Possibly the fee had been divided before this, since
Sir John Lovel's lands had been considerably sub-
infcudated ; one quarter of a fee was held by Richard,
son of Guy and his wife Joan, another quarter by
William de Clavbrook and his wife Elizabeth, a third
quarter by Isabel Drayton and two eighth parts
respectively by John de Seymour and the successors
of Simon ISIullesworth. It seems possible that these
tenants represented the heirs of Ralph de Titch-
marsh.'" •"
" Feud, /lids, ii, 569 ; Cat. Inq. ix,
no. 44.
»» Ch.in. Inq. p.m. 36 F.dw. Ill, file 14,
no. 326 ; ibid. 9 Men. IV, no. 29.
"" Egcrton MS. (l).M.), 2733, f. 155.
" Curia Regis R. 85, m. 2. lie is de-
scribed 38 Ascelin dc 'ritchm.irsh of
Titchmarsh, but this is probably a
mistake. Although two families n.imed
Titchmarsh held p.irts of the parish, there
docs not seem to have been an Ascelin nt
this time and the defendant of the law-
suit seems to have been a man of more
importance than the Titchmaishes.
" Cal. I'al. 1231- 34, p. 354 ; Anct. D.
D. 236.
" Anct. Deeds, D. 286.
'• G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
»' Egerion MS. (n.M.), 1733, f. 141 ;
nk. of /■'(■«, ii, 937.
•• Aihmole MS. (Rodley's Lib.) 804,
fl. 31, 42 (evidences of the l.ovel family).
" Hunter, Rot. Select. (Rec. Com.), 197.
■* Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 47, no. 2.
"Cal. Pat. 1 292- 1 3c I, pp. 44, 45;
1301-7, p. 145 i 1396-99, P- .=;4'-
*» Chan. In<|. p.m. Edw. II, file 20,
no. 14 ; file 37, no. 3 ; Edw. Ill, file 84,
no. 15 ; Hen. V, file S, no. 30 ; Hen. VI,
file 158, no. I ; Cal. Anct. D., A. 4790.
*' Cat. Pat. 14S5-94, p. 100; I'eet of
F. Div. Cos. East. 4 and 5 Hen. VIII ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xlv, 63 ; G.E.C.
Complete Peerage.
•" Pat. R. 7 Edw. VI, pt. 3.
*'» Recov. R. Trin. 7 Edw. VI, ro. 516 ;
Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 1 Mary.
*• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxxix, 120.
Bridges, llilt. Sorthant). ii, 3S3, 384.
*•* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccxlii, 94.
** Rridges, loc. cit.
"»CE.C. ComplcleBaronetage,\\,a2-i.
" Ibid. He was son of Gilbert (rf. 173ft),
son of John (d. 1703), son of Gilbert
(d. f6fi8).
" Ibid. ; J. Nichols, Nitl. and Aniii]. of
I.eici. i, 615; ii, 664; cf. Instit. Bks.
(I'.R.O.), 17SI-
144
'■ Recov. R. East. 4 Geo. Ill, ro. 278.
" Cf. Instit. liks. fl'.R.U.), 1770.
" Pr,v. .let of Pari 18 Geo. Ill, cap. 8.
"» I-gerton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 155;
n R.ilph df Titchni.irsh was li\ing in 1 199.
Rot. Cur. Rrz. (Rcc. Com.), 389.
*' Bk. of I-'ns, ii, 937. Robert le Her
was probably Robert son of Ralph llcrcde
of Wiulenhoe (Hncclcuch MS. 71).
6' UiKcleuch Deeds, G. 8.
^> Ibid. ]l. 19, 28 ; Bwccleuch MS. 73.
" Ch.in. In.), p.m. Kdw. HI, file S4,
no. 11;. Sir Rich.ird dc 'iiicbni.irsh
witnessed deeds .is to lands at Kingstliorp
in 1264 and Linda at Barnwell c. 1270
(Rncclcuch I>rcds, A. 40, M. 21). C'»cnffrcy
{\c ritchm.irsh witnessed a deed as tol.inds
iit IN-min^ton in n4(; (ibid. A. 71;) and
Sir Richard W.itrrvilie, R.dph de Titch-
marsh, (Icoffrey si>n of Rr>gcr dc Titch-
marsh, and I'ulk de Tilchnuirsh witnessed
n ijlh century charter as to Unds at
l.iHurd (Uuctlcuch MS. 20).
•* Cal. Inq. ix, no. 393.
NAVISFORD HUNDRED
TITCHMARSH
A rent of 20 marks held in 1412 by Nicholas Mores,
in Rothevvell, Titchmarsh, and Glapthorn may have
arisen from one or more of these portions of land ^' and
equally be represented by the manor, later known as
TrRR!NGH.^.MS, which was bouglu from John
Morice in 1512 by Thomas Tyrringham and otliers."
On the death of Thomas, the manor, which was held
of Lovel's manor by fealty only, passed to his son
Robert, a minor.^' The latter died in 1532 and his heir
was his brother Thomas,** who settled the manor in
1544 on Edmund, his son, and he, in 1557, conveyed it
to Thomas, probably his brother. Apparently, in 1557,
it was held by Boniface Pickering,''" the third son of
the Gilbert Pickering,'* who had bought I.ovel's
Manor (j.f.). In 1583 Boniface settled the manor on
his second son, James, on his marriage with Anne
Clifford. James obtained seisin when his father died
in 1586.** He was succeeded
in 1629 by his grandson
Christopher,'' who owned the
manor in 1655.'^ On his death,
it seems to have been divided
between his two heiresses,
Anne the wife of Alexander
Wilkinson and Jane Picker-
ing." They probably sold it
in 1679 to John Farrer and
William Sherard,** who sold
it in 1685 to John Creed, of
Oundle," who had married
Elizabeth, daughter of Sir
Gilbert Pickering, the lord of Lovel's' manor. John
Creed died in 1701, and his eldest son Major Richard
Creed was killed at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.""
John, brother of Richard, apparently succeeded and
died in 1731.*' He was succeeded by his son John,*'
who made a settlement of the manor, in 1745, on
another John Creed, the younger.™ In 1766, the
property was in the possession of Dr. William Walcott
and his wife Mary,'' the younger daughter of Col.
John Creed (d. 1751). Their son, William Walcott,
died in 1827
Margaret,the daughter of Ascelin de Sidenham, the
tenant of Lovel's manor, married Simon de Borard
and Joan their heiress brought the manor of Clifton
Reynes, iu Buckinghamshire, to her husband Thomas
de Reynes about 1293.'- It seems probable that she
Creed. Azure a ch£vc~
ron bet'vccn three ytvans
argent.
brought land in Titchmarsh also, since in 1 349 Thomas
de Reynes, grandson of Thomas and Joan and Geoffrey
de Titchmarsh held j\- of a fee of Jolin Lovel.'*
In 1383, Sir Thomas de Reynes, of Clifton Reynes,
son of the last named Thomas, settled lands in Titch-
marsh and other places on his younger son Richard'*
and in 141 2 Robert Reynes had rents in Titchmarsh
of z6s. 8d. a year,'* but this appears to be the last
mention of this holding.
TITCHM.IRSH alias KNOLLES manor was held
of the Abbey of Peterborough. In 973, 2 J hides of land
at Titchmarsh are mentioned in a forged charter of
King Edgar to the Abbey" and in 10S6 it held 3 hides,
I virgate there." The overlordship is last mentioned
in 1428,'* but it presumably lasted till the dissolution
of the abbey.
In 1086, the under-tenant was Ascelin" who may
be identified as the ancestor of the de Watervilles,
who held Thorpe Waterville and Achurch of the
Abbey.*" In the early 13th century, the manor was
sub-infeudated*! and the mesne-lordship followed the
descent of Thorpe Waterville (y.t'.), Lord Burghley
being the mesne lord in 1590.'''-
The manor was held in demesne by a second family
named Titchmarsh, but their pedigree is obscure. A
Robert de Titchmarsh was living in 1 199*' and may
have been the same as Robert son of Thomas, who
paid geld from his fee in Titchmarsh early in the 13th
century.*'' In 1243 he had been succeeded by Thomas
son of Robert, who held a fee of Reginald de Water-
ville.** Robert de Titchmarsh was seised of land in
Titchmarsh before 1269*' and was living in 1280.*'
His son William was living in 1298,** but before 1301
it seems to have passed to Henry de Titchmarsh,
presumably the husband of the youngest Waterville
heiress.*' In 1 317, he settled the manor of Titch-
marsh on his elder son John,'" but he seems to have
been living in 1324.'! John was seised of other family
property in 1330'^ and, in an undated inquisition,
was said to hold half a knight's fee in Titchmarsh."
Before 1 348, he was succeeded by his son Henry .'^ from
whom the manor passed to Katherine, the wife of
John Bray. Two parts of the manor were acquired
by Sir John Lovel, who died seised of them in 1408,
when the remaining third part was held for life by
Margaret, widow of Henry de Titchmarsh of the
inheritance of Katherine Bray.'* The Brays' portion
•* Feud. .iiJs, vi, 500.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xlvl, 64.
The chief reaion for luggciting that the
m.inor of Tyrringhams represented part
of Ralph de Titchmarsh** fee is that a
free fishery was one of the appurtenances
of the manor and that it was held of
Lovel's manor. For Tyrringham descent
•ee y.C.H. Bucks, iv, 482-3.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xlvi, 43 (i),
«♦•
»• Ibid, liv, 48 ; L. and P. Hen. Fill,
Tol. vi, g. 105 (23).
" Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 36 Hen.
VIII i ibid. 4 and 5 Ph. and Mary ; Court
R. (P.R.O.) (Gen. Ser.), ptf. 195, no.
56.
•' Metcalfe, Vtsil. Nortbanls. 42.
•• Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 25 and
26 Eliz. ; Chan. Inq. p.m (Ser. ii), ccix,
33-
•• Ibid, ccccxlix, 44.
•* Recov. R. Mich. 1655, to. 26 ; Feet
of F. Northants. Mich. 165;.
" Feet of F. Northants. East. 30 Chas.
II.
" Ibid.
•' Ibid. Mich. 36 Cha.. II ; Recov. R.
Trin. 36 Chas. II, ro,io.
"» M.I. in church.
" Did. Nat. Biog.
" Bridges, Hist. Northants, ii, 384.
"> Recov. R. Trin. 18 and 19 Geo. II,
ro. 240.
" Recov. R. Trin. 6 Geo. Ill, ro. 8.
' » V. C.H. Bucks, iv, 3 1 7-8 ; Lipscombe,
Hist, of Bucks, iv, 105.
'* Cal. Inq. ix, no. 393.
'« Close R. 6 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 1 1 rf.
" Feud. Aids, vi, 500.
'• Kemble, Cod. Ihpl. dlxxix.
" V.C.H. Northants. i, 316A, 365*.
" Egcrton MS. (B.M.) 2733, f. 134 i;
Feud. Aids, iv, 48.
'• V.C.H. Northants. i, 316*.
»» See p. 136.
" Egerton MS. (B.M.) 2733, f. 134 d.
••Cott MS. Vesp. E ixii, f. 113;
H5
Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. IV, file 66, no. 29 ;
ibid. Hen. V, file 8, no. 30 ; Feud. Aids, iv,
48, 51 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxxix,
120.
"' Rot. Cur. Regis (Rec. Com.), p. 389.
e« Egerton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 155.
" Ibid. f. 134 d.
" Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 53
Hen. III.
«' Chron. Pctroh. (Camden Soc), 36.
«» Cal. And. D., A. 1288.
«» Coram Rege R. 166; Pytchley, Bk. of
Fees (Northants Rec. Soc), 43 ; Feud.
Aids, iv, 28 ; Cott. MS. Cleop. C i,
141 d.
"Feet of F. Northants. Mich. II
Edw. II.
»' Cal. Inq. Edw. II, no. 619.
•• Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 3 Edw.
III.
•• Cott MS. Cleop. C i, f. 141 d.
•« Cal. Inq. Edw. II, ix, no. 44.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. IV, file 66, no.
a9-
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
is not mentioned again,'® but the two parts acquired
hj Sir John Lovel remained with his descendants
presumably until the forfeiture of Francis, Lord
Lovel in 1485." They do not, however, seem to have
been included in the grant of Lovel's manor (q.v.)
to Sir Charles Somerset. Possibly they may be
identified with the manor held in 1532 by Sir John
Mordaunt, in right of his wife EHzabeth'^ and sold
by him to William Saunders, John Smyth and Thomas
Saxby. In 1553, a settlement of the manor was made
on Gilbert Pickering and his son John, to which
Roger Knolles was a party and presumably the manor
took its name from him.*' From this time the manor
of Knolles was held with Level's Manor by the
Pickerings and is last mentioned as a separate manor
in 1638.1
In 1274 John Lovel claimed free warren at Titch-
marsh," but it is not mentioned later. The right of a
free fishery in the Nene is mentioned in 1 3 14 as parcel
A mill is mentioned on the land of Henry de Ferrers
in Domesday Book and later' there was a water-miU
in Lovel's manor' and a windmill is mentioned in
1330' and was parcel of Knolles' manor in 1553.'
A mill in Tyrringham's manor is mentioned in 1613.^"
An interesting custom of Lovel's manor is recorded
in 1350 that each of the bond tenants with his wife
dined with the lord on Christmas Day and that each
dinner was worth ■^d. At the same date a common
oven is mentioned.^^
In 1305, Edward I granted the second John Lovel
a weekly market on Mondays and an annual fair to be
held on the eve and day of Trinity Sunday and on the
seven days following.'''
The Church of ST. MART THE
CHURCH riRGlX^' consists of chancel 42 ft.
6 in. by 18 ft. 9 in., with north aisle or
chapel 31 ft. 10 in. by 15 ft. 8 in., clearstoried nave of
three bays 50 ft. 6 in. by 21 ft. 8 in., north and south
%m^'=^mf~^^.
■ I31i! Century
■ 142! Century
^152 Century
E3 Subsequent 6. Modern
Scale of Feet
Plan of Titchmarsh Church.
of Level's manor' and in 1348 it was said to be several
except that the parson of Titchmarsh, Henry de
Titchmarsh, then tenant of Knolles' manor, and the
heir of Ralph de Titchmarsh, had the right to fish
from the river bank.'' The free fishery attached to
Tyrringham's manor (g.v.) is referred to in the 17th
and 18th centuries.'
aisles each 12 ft. 3 in. wide, short north transept,
south porch, and lofty west tower 17 ft. 6 in. square,
all these measurements being internal. There is a
small modern vestry north of the chancel aisle.
No part of the existing structure appears to be
older than the 13th century, but the rear arch of the
priest's doorway is a 12th century semi-circular
•• It ii pojsibic thnt the Jrd part of
the m.Tnor of RancBic in the town of
Titchmarih of which John de Styude
.Tnd Katherinc his wife held the reveriion
in 1381, might be identical with thii
portion of the manor, hut (he life tenant!
who were in iciiin were different. Cf.
Feet of F. Northanti, caic 178, file 86.
no. 31.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. Hen. V, file 8, no.
30; Cat. Pat. i485-()4, p. 100.
•• Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 24 Hen.
VIII.
" Ibid. nil. 6 and 7 Edw. VI.
' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccixix, 120 ;
cccxvi, 61; cccxiii, 94; ccccxlvi, 84;
Rccov. R. Mich. 12 Ja«. I, ro. 142 ; Feet
of F. Northanti. Trin. 14 Chai. I.
* Roi. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 8*.
•Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. II, file 37,
no. 3.
* Ibid, file 84, no. 15.
' Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 30 Chai.
n i ibid. Mich. 36 Chai. II ; Reco». R.
Trin. 18 and 19 Ceo. II, ro. 240.
* y.C.H. Northanti. i, 333a ; Chan.
Inq. p.m. Edw. II, file 37, no. 3 ; ibid.
Edw. Ill, file 84, no. 15.
' Rccov. R. Mich. 20 Chat, II, ro. 225 ;
ibid. Trin. 3 Will, and Mary, ro. 173 j
ibid. East. 4 Geo. Ill, ro. 278 (two watcr-
milli) ; ibid. Mich. 6 Geo. IV, ro. 265.
' Aiiiie R. 632, f. yid.
' I'ect of F. Northanti. Ilil. 6 and 7
Edw. VI.
"> Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 10 Jai. I.
" Cal. Ihj. Edw. IH, ix, no. 664.
'• Chart. R. 33 Edw. I, m. 12 (66).
'" Aiiiie R. 635, m. 56d.
146
w
H
u
X
^iSi: :^
^^ 4
U
H
NAVISFORD HUNDRED
TITCHMARSH
arch re-used, and in all probability a 12th century
church stood on the site consisting of an aislcless
nave and chancel. The first extension was probably
made by the Lovel family, in 1250, by adding an aisle
on the north side and by lengthening the cliancel to
its present extent. The chapel is also of the same
period and seems to have been part of the original
re-building. .'\ south aisle was added, or a former one
rebuilt, early in the 14th century, and a little later
the north aisle was rebuilt in its present form and
the transept added. The tower, clearstory and porch
were additions of the 15th century, at whicli period
new windows were inserted in the chancel, aisles,
and chapel, the building then assuming its present
appearance. Tliere were restorations in 1840-3 and in
1866, and in 1926 a chancel screen and new pulpit
were erected. Tlie tower, which is about loo ft. higli,
has lately been repaired.
The tower is faced with wrought Weldon stone, but
the rest of the building is of rubble with wrought
stone buttresses and dressings. The parapets of
the chancel and clearstory are battlemented, but else-
where plain, and the roofs, which are modern, are of
low pitch, leaded. The porch has a chamber over, at
one time used as the pew or ' gallery ' of the Pickering
family,'^ and said to have been connected by an over-
head passage with the manor-house, which then stood
immediately to the south of the church. The
chamber is now inaccessible, the openings having
long been blocked : the chimney from the fireplace
remains on the west side.
The walls of the chancel and the arcade opening to
the chapel '* on its north side are of 13th century date
and the walls of the chapel are probably contemporary,
but with one exception aU the windows are 15th
century insertions. The four-centered east window
is of five lights with perpendicular tracery, and in the
south side are three windows of similar type but of
three lights. The pointed 13th century priest's
doorway has a plain continuous chamfer ; the rear-
arch already referred to is ornamented with chevrons.
The piscina is original, with trefoiled head and stone
shelf above the bowl, but the sedilia are formed in the
sill of the easternmost window at two levels. Below
the westernmost window is a blocked rectangular
low-side opening, and in the north wall at the east
end is a restored recess similar to that of the piscina.
West of this a low pointed 13th century doorway,
now blocked, led to what appears to have been a
priest's room, or sacristy, the lean-to roof of which was
below the sill of the late 1 3th century two-light window
with forked mullion at the east end of the north wall
of the chancel. The greater length of this wall is
open to the chapel by an arcade of two arches springing
from a cylindrical pier and half-round responds, all
with moulded capitals and bases, the nail-head
occurring in the former. The lofty chancel arch was
rebuilt in the 15th century, but the north jamb to a
height of about 7 ft. is original.*''*
The chapel had originally an east window of two
lights, which was refashioned in the 15th century
into one of four lights, using the old hood-mould, the
jambs re-used for the wider opening and the sill
lowered : it has external shafted jambs with delicately
carved capitals at its original 13th century springing.
A three-liglit window in the north wall has been
blocked. The original piscina in the south-east
corner was cut through in the 14th century to form a
squint from the chapel ; the openings on either side
have cusped heads and moulded jambs. The chapel
is open to the north aisle of the nave by a 13th century
arch.
The north arcade of the nave has arches springing
from cylindrical piers and half-round responds, all
with moulded bases and capitals, in the latter of which
the nail-head occurs. The 14th century south arcade
is generally of the same character, the piers having
moulded bases, but the capitals have boldly carved
upturned leaf ornament, and the mouldings are later
in character and without the nail-head.
The moulded north doorway belongs to the 14th
century rebuilding of the aisle, but has been restored :
west of it is a restored window with intersecting
tracery, and in the west wall a square-headed window
of two trefoiled lights. The other window and that in
the transept are 15th century insertions. In the
south aisle all the windows are 15th century insertions
with four-centered heads, cinquefoiled lights and
perpendicular tracery, similar in type to those of the
clearstory, of which there are five on each side.
In the south aisle, between the two easternmost
windows, is a 14th century tomb recess ** with pointed
arch of two hollowed orders, containing a 13th century
grave slab with floriated cross. The south doorway
is a modern restoration. A scroll string runs round
the south aisle externally, and the buttresses are of
an early type with gabled heads.
The magnificent west tower is of a type uncommon
in the county, being rather akin to the towers of
Somersetshire. It is of four stages, with open para-
pets and lofty angle and intermediate pinnacles. The
two lower stages are blank on the north and south
but in the third stage is a pointed two-light window
with transom at half-height, and the double bell-
chamber windows** are of the same type, the thick
dividing mullion between them being carried up the
face of the wall to form the intermediate pinnacle.
Ornament is chiefly concentrated in the ground
story and upper stage, there being a triple band of
quatrefoils in circles above the moulded plinth, and on
either side of the west doorway a pointed niche with
straight-sided crocketted hood-mould. There are
also canopied niches in the second and third stages on
the west side, all the niches being filled with modern
statues. The moulded arch of the doorway, which has
an ogee crocketted label, is set within a rectangular
frame, the spandrels of which are filled with blank
shields in quatrefoils. The vice is in the south-west
angle and is lighted by quatrefoil openings. The
four-centered west window is of three cinquefoiled
" Bridget, Hut. Norlhants. ii, 385.
'* Possibly the chapel of St. James
mentioned in wilts of 1521. Ex inf.
Canon Luckock. Now used as an organ
chamber.
'** One of the stones at the base was
part of a Norman capital inverted. Ex
inf. Canon Luckock.
*^ The recess was opened out in the
restoration of 1866. Possibly it was the
tomb of one of the Lovcls who probably
rebuilt the church.
*• The windows are now filled with
open brickwork set diagonally ; the
windows in the third stage are similarly
treated on the north and aouth ; oa the
H7
east and west they are blocked. On the
south side of the tower is a painted sun-
dial dated 1798, the gnomon gone, and
lower down the disused clock face made
by George Eayre in 1745. The present
clock with quarter chimes was installed
in 1886.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
lights, with double transoms and perpendicular
tracery. The lofty arch to the nave is of three hollow
orders, the two inner resting on embattled imposts,
below which the jambs are moulded.
The 15th centur)' font consists of an octagonal
panelled bowl and plain pedestal. Bridges records
some old glass,i' but this has disappeared.
At the east end of the south aisle is a medijeval
grave slab, re-used in the 17th century, inscribed
round the verge in Lombardic characters — ' Margery
la femme Johan ci Dieu de sa alme eyt mercy.'^*
In the north chapel is a mural monument to Sir
John (d. 1703), Sir Gilbert (d. 1735), and Sir Edward
Pickering (d. 1749), baronets, and other members
of the family down to 1766 ; and a table tomb to
John, eldest son of Sir Gilbert Pickering, who died in
1703 in his eighth year. The chapel also contains two
wooden mural tablets painted by Mrs. Elizabeth
Creed, the first about 1710^* in memory of her brother
the Rev. Theophilus Pickering, D.D., Prebendary
of Durham, and successively rector of Gateshead and
Sedgefield, who died in 1710 :-* the second in 1722 in
memorv of her cousin John Dryden, and his parents
Erasmus Dryden and Mary Pickering, which is sur-
mounted by a wooden bust of the poet.-'
The east end of the south aisle, which was the
burial place of the Creed family and formerly enclosed
by a wooden screen,^ contains mural monuments to
John Creed of Oundle (d. lyci), ' a wise, learned,
pious man,' who ' served His Majesty King Charles
ye II in divers Honorable employments at home and
abroad ' ;23 his wife Elizabeth (d. 1728), daughter of
Sir Gilbert Pickering ;-•• his son Richard who was
kiUed at Blenheim in 1704 ;25 and his daughter
Jemima (d. 1705). In another part of the aisle is a
monument to Colonel John Creed (d. 1 751) who
' served under the Duke of Marlborough in the
wars during the reigns of King William and Queen
Ann.'
There are three scratch dials on the south side of
the church, (i) on porch, (ii) on gable of middle
buttress of aisle, and (iii) on lower stage of angle
buttress of chancel.
There were formerly six bells in the tower, but two
trebles were added in 1885, and the whole eight recast
in 1913 by Gillett and Johnson, of Croydon.-*
The plate consists of a silver cup and cover paten of
1670, another cup and cover paten of 1674, ^ flagon
of 1670 (inscribed ' 1671 '), and a silver alms-dish of
1836, given in 1837 by the Hon. and Rev. L. Powys,
recto. .^'
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i)
baptisms 1544-1651, marriages 1556-1646, burials
1543-4, 1556-1646; (ii) all entries 1653-1715 ; (iii)
baptisms 1715-1789, marriages 1715-1754, burials
1715-1787; (iv) baptisms and burials 1789-1812; (v)
marriages I7r5-l8l2. There are two volumes of
churchwardens' accounts : (1)1730-1766; (ii) 1779-
The church of St. Mary the Virgin^*
ADVOWSON is a rectory, of which the advowson
was held by the lord of Lovel's
manor since the early 13th century.-' The first
recorded presentation was by Ascelin de Sidenham in
1224.5" At the present day. Lord Lilford is patron. In
1616, Sir John Pickering sold the next presentation
to Lord Say and Sele,^' who presented, together with
Robert Horseman in 1633,'- while in 1660,^ presum-
ably before Sir Gilbert Pickering, the Parliamentarian,
obtained his pardon, a presentation was made by the
Crown. The rector of Achurch, in 1291, had a
portion in the rectory worth ^i a year.^'"
The free chapel of St. Stephen^* founded by John,
son of John Lovel, is first mentioned in 1293^* and
was a chantry chapel in the castle or manor of Titch-
marsh. It was served by a chaplain presented
by the lords of Lovel's manor,^' the last recorded
presentation being by Alice, the widow of William,
Lord Lovel in 1462.^' No chantry certificate exists
and presumably the Somersets retained possession of
the Chantry lands, though the latter and some of the
demesne lands called Somerset's lands were later
separated from Lovel's manor. They came into the
possession of Boniface Pickering, who died seised
of the Chantry lands in 1586, which were held in chief
of the Crown.^ The lands presumably passed with
Tyrringham's manor {q.v.) to the Creeds, but they
did not include the Chapel itself and the Chapel Hill,
which were held by James Pickering, the second son of
the first Gilbert Pickering. On his death in 1602
they passed to his grandson William Bury,^* who is
said to have sold them again to the Pickerings.*'
Bridges mentions the Chapel Hill in the centre of the
village in the early l8th century.*'
•' Hist. Norihanis. ii, 385. In the lower
window, south aisle, the effigy of a woman
' Mar^areta Hlythc,' and in tfiis and the
adjoining window were * snints, a king,
a bishop, and an old man.* In the east
window of the same aisle ' a parson
praying ' with the inscription ' Lord God
who sittcst on Thy t?nc have fiici on
Thos, Criston.'
*• The inscription is now partly covered,
but is recorded by Bridges ; the slab was
re-uscd in 1691, and again in 1765 (for
John Creed, jun.).
" The inscription records that she was
lixty-cight when the tablet was erected.
*° He was son of Sir Oilbert Pickering,
born 1662, buried at Sedgefield, co. Dur-
ham. The inscription, which is a very long
one, is given in Itridgcs, op. cit. ii, 3K7.
" He is described as ' the celebrated
Poet and Laureate of his time.' The
inscription consists of sixty-four lines,
and was executed by Mrs. Creed in her
eightieth year.
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 3S5.
" He was Secretary to the Commis-
sioners for Tangier.
^* She painted the tablets recorded
above.
'' There is a monument to M.ijor Creed
in Westminster Abbey (south aisle of
nave). He was interred on tlu field of
battle.
** Four of the old bells were cast by
Henry Ha^Icy of F.cton, 1688, the tenor
was by Henry Penn of Peterborough, 1708,
^nd the third by l-'dward Arnold of St.
N^ots, 178 r. The inscriptions are given
in North, Cb. Dells oj Northann. 420; only
two have been retained on the new bells.
•' Markham, Ch. I'laUaJNortbants. 284.
" Assise R. 632, f. 751/.
" Rot. Hug. dc H'cUcs (Cant, and York
Soc), ii, 119, 215; Chan. Inq. p.m.
Edw. II, file 37, no. 3 1 F.dw. HI, file 84,
no. 15; ibid. Hen. VI, file 6; Common
Pleas, Rccov. Trin. 7 Edw. VI ; Recov.
Mich. 12 Jai. I, ro. 142 ; East. 4 Ceo. HI,
ro. 27S ; Mich. 6 Geo. IV, ro. 265 ;
Instit. Bks. (P.R.O.), 1631, 1648, 1751,
1770, 17SS.
" Rol. Hug. dc irdles (Cant, and York
Soc), ii, 119.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccccxlvi, 84.
"Instit. Bks. (I'.R.O.), 1633.
•> Ibid. 1660.
>'» Pope .\'iih. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), 39*.
" Cal. I'm. 1327-30, p. 319.
" Line. Fpis. Rep. Inst. D.ilderby Lilt
of Instit., Bridges, Hist. NorthntttSy ii, 388.
"■ Line. Epis. Rog. Inst. Chedworth,
fol. 651/; List of Instit., Bridges, Hist.
h'orthiints, ii, 388; Cal. Pat. 1327-1330,
pp. 319, 324; ibid. 1350-54, p. Sof'i
Cal. Inq. ix, no. 393 ; Chan. Inq. p.m.
Edw. HI, file 84.
" List of Instit., Bridges, Hitl.
NoTthanis. ii, 388.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), ccix, 33.
•• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), cclxxxiv, 97.
*" Bridges, Htit. Nertbanti. ii, 383, 384.
"Ibid.
148
NAVISFORD HUNDRED
WADENHOE
In 1672, George Foule obtained licence to use
James Cole's house and barn at Titchmarsh as a
Congregational Chapel.''^ There is now a Wesleyan
chapel in the parish.
The Hospital or Almshouses
CHARITIES founded by Dorothy Elizabeth
Pickering and Frances Byrd by in-
dentures dated I and 2 January, 1756, consist of The
Almshouses in Titchmarsh and a farm of 210a. ir. 6p.
at Molesvvorth, Huntingdonshire, let for ^^165,
including sporting rights. The property and the
following subsidiary charities are regulated by a
scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 6 June,
1882. Mrs. Francis Byrd by her will and codicil
gave ;^i, 500 Bank Annuities, now Consols, and produc-
ing ^■^-j los. yearly, for the benefit of the Hospital.
Thomas Knight by his will proved at York, 19 June,
1858, gave £900. This sum was invested in ^^839 3^.3^/.
India 5 per cent, now 3^ per cent. Stock producing
j^29 7/. 4</. yearly. Thomas Attenborough by Declar-
ation of Trust 1 September, 1 891, gave £1,000, which
was invested in ;^i,047 2s. ^d. India 3 per cent. Stock
producing £11 %s. yearly. The Almshouses are
managed by a body of trustees consisting of the rector
and five others. The full number of almswomen is
twelve and during the year ended 30 June, 1924,
j^l34 15^. was applied in stipends, ^{^33 os. i^d. in
firing, £2^ los. ^d. in clothing, £() \os. in nursing and
medical attendance for inmates.
By his will dated 30 March, 1697, Edward Pickering
gave £300 to the poor. The money was laid out in
the purchase of land let for^^is yearly and 17a. 3r. I4p.
let in allotments and producing about £\i yearly.
The sporting rights arc let to Lord Lilford for j^i 10/.
yearly. The charity is known as The Non-
ecclesiastical Charity and is regulated by the scheme
of the Charity Commissioners regulating the Alms-
houses and the trustees consist of those for the
Almshouses, together with five trustees appointed by
the Parish Council. The income is applied in sub-
scriptions to the local coal and clothing clubs, in
urgent relief of poor and in subscriptions to hos-
pitals.
An allotment of five acres of land was set out upon
the inclosure of the open fields in or about the
year 1 778 in lieu of land formerly appropriated to
the use of the church. The land is let to Mr. A.
Abbott for £10 yearly which is applied by the
churchwardens in the maintenance and upkeep of the
church.
By her will proved in P.R. 23 June, 1887, Caroline
Powys bequeathed £s°° ^o ^^^ rector and two other
trustees for the benefit of the poor. The endowment
consists of £534 L. and N.E.R. 3 per cent. Debenture
Stock and the income, amounting to £16 o;. 6d., is
applied in doles to about 40 aged poor.
The several sums of stock are with the Official
Trustees of Charitable Funds.
WADENHOE
Wadenho (xi cent.) ; VVadenhowe (xii cent.) ; Wad-
denhoo, Wandenhoe (xiii-.\vii cent.).
The parish of Wadenhoe is bounded on the south-
east by the River Nene, near to which the land is low-
lying, being only some 80 ft. above the ordnance datum.
The ground rises, however, to the north-west, where it
reaches 258 ft. near Wadenhoe Great Wood. The
surface soil is clay and the subsoil is Oxford clay,
cornbrash and Great Oolite. The parish comprises
1,199 acres. It was inclosed by Act of Parliament
in 1793.^
The village stands on rising ground near to the
River Nene, a little way off the high road from I slip
and AldwinUe to Oundle. The church is in an
isolated position to the south-west of the village on
high ground overlooking the river. On the opposite
side of the village is the Old Rectory, sold toG. Ward
Hunt and occupied by Capt. W. Ward Hunt, R.N.,
D.S.O., as the rector resides at Pilton, the living of
which he holds with that of Wadenhoe. Wadenhoe
House, the property of G. Ward Hunt, is a 17th-
century building with modern additions standing in
extensive grounds. At a farm-house in the village is a
circular stone dovecote with conical roof and louvrcd
turret. A reservoir adjoins the Oundle Road and
there were formerly some quarries in the parish,
which are now no longer worked. No railway crosses
the parish, the nearest railway station being at
Thorpe on the London Midland and Scottish Railway.
John Palsgrave, tutor to Henry Fitzroy, natural
son of Henry VIII, was rector here from 1545 to 1554.*
Samuel Parr, the educationist and political writer,
became rector in 1789 by exchange with Dr. Bridges,
but apparently never resided in the parish.'
In the time of Edward the Confessor,
MANORS Burred held freely 2 hides and \ virgate
of land in Wadenhoe, but after the
Conquest they were granted to the Bishop of Cou-
tances, who was the overlord in 1086.* After the
forfeiture of the bishop's lands under William Rufus,
Wadenhoe must have been granted to King David
of Scotland, as it was included in his fee in the first
half of the 12th century. * A holding of 2^ hides and
I bovate of land, included among the lands in
Wadenhoe given to the Bishop, should probably
belong to Wold.^
Another holding in Wadenhoe, consisting of ij
virgates, was in 1086 held of the Abbey of Peter-
borough, by Roger,' who may be identified as the
ancestor of the Torpel family, since in the early 12th
century Roger Infans held 2 small virgates.^ Later
the Torpels do not appear to have held any land in
Wadenhoe, and it is possible that this holding after-
wards was accounted a part of Pilton {q.v.).
♦• Cal. S.P. Dom. 1672, pp. 42, 198.
'Priv. Act of Pari. 33 Geo. Ill, cap.
'D.N.B.
ixi. p. 7S3.
L. and P. Hen. Fill, vol.
• D.N.B.
* y.C.H. Nortbanu. i, pp 309^, 310a.
' Ibid. 366a.
• Ibid. 362. In the 12th century
Survey (/'.C.W. Koribants. i, 366) various
other entrio arc given under Wadenhoe,
lome of which belong to Stoke Doyle
(y.o). 'I he fact that Wadenhoe, Pilton
and Stoke were reckoned ai one vill
149
(cf. Egerton MS. (B.M.), 2733, f. 155)
probably accounted for this confusion,
while the transcript of the Survey in the
Cott. MS. Vesp. E xxii, is somewhat
corrupt.
' y.C.H. Xortbanls. i, 316J.
' Ibid. 366J.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Vere, Earl of Oxford.
Quarterly gules and or
with a niolet argent tn
the quarter.
In 1086, the sub-tenant of the 2 hides and I
virgate was Aubrey, the ancestor of the Veres.'
His successor, Aubrey de Vere, held the land under
King Dand.i" and the Earls of Oxford claimed the
overlordship until the 15th century, the last mention
being in 1449.^^ The manor of Wadeohoe is said
to have been held by the
service of half a knight's fee,
sometimes of the Honour of
Winchester,^^ and at others
in chief.''
The Veres, later in the 12th
centur)', enfeoffed another
branch of the family with
their land in Wadenhoe. Before
1 167, it had been in the pos-
session of Geoffrey de Vere,'*
and in 1 1 85 was held by
Henry de Vere.'^ He, or more
probably his successor of the
same name, was the tenant in
1229,'' but before 1236 the manor of Wadenhoe had
been again subinfeudated to John de Lacy, Earl of
Lincoln." He was succeeded in 1241 by his son
Edmund, who obtained livery of his father's lands by
124918 and in 1254 granted the manor to Roger de
Quinci, Earl of Winchester,
for life.'* On Roger's death
in 1264,^" it reverted to the
Lacys and was held in dower
by Edmund's widow Alice.^i
Her son Henry, Earl of Lin-
coln, succeeded,-^ but on his
death in 1 312, the manor
passed to his daughter and heir
Alice, the wife of Thomas,
Earl of Lancaster.^' After
Lancaster's execution in 1321,
his widow obtained a grant
of the Lacy manors for life from Edward H, with
remainder to Hugh le Despencer, the younger.^''
She afterwards married Ebulo Lestrange, and from
Edward III obtained a grant of Wadenhoe manor to
hold to them and their heirs.^' On the death of both
Ebulo and Alice, the manor should have passed to
Ebulo's nephew Roger Lestrange of Knokyn, on whom
it had been settled in'l336,28but ini337he had granted
Lacy, Earl of Lincoln.
Or a lion purpure.
Lestrange. Gules two
leopards argent.
The latter died seised in 1356 and the manor passed
to Roger's son and heir, another Roger Lestrange.^*
His descendants held it tiU
the d-'ath of John Lestrange
in 1477.2* It probably then
passed to his daughter and
heiress Joan, the wife of
George Stanley, who pre-
sented to the rectory of
Wadenhoe in 1487.*' Waden-
hoe was presumably sold by
the Stanleys, perhaps after the
death of Joan in 1513, since it
was held in 1532 by Sir William
Blount, Lord Mountjoye.^'
His son and successor Charles sold it to Henry VIII
in 1543,'^ and in 1550 Edward VI granted it to Princess
Elizabeth.^ In 1 55 1, however, an exchange was
made with Sir Walter Mildmay.** From the Mild-
mays, the manor of Wadenhoe passed in 1617 through
Mary, the daughter and heir of Sir Anthony Mildmay,
to the Earls of Westmoreland.'* In 1668, Charles,
Earl of Westmoreland, sold it to John Stanyan,** who
sold it sixteen years later to Brooke Bridges." The
latter died in 1702 and the manor passed to his
great-nephew John Bridges, the historian, who died
unmarried in 1724.^*
The manor was apparently sold before 1714 to
Sir Edward Ward, Chief Baron of the Exchequer,
whose daughter Jane married
Thomas Hunt of Boreatton,
Shropshire. Their son, Edward
Hunt of Oundle, a merchant,
had a son Thomas, who suc-
ceeded to Wadenhoe, but left
no surviving issue.
The manor passed to his
brother Rowland, who married
Frances Welch, and from him
to his son Thomas Welch
Hunt, who with his wife
Caroline Isham was murdered
at Paestum on their wedding
tour in 1824. Thomas Welch Hunt left Wadenhoe to
his aunt, Mary Hunt (d. unm. 1835), with remainder
to his cousin, Mary Caroline Hunt (d. unm. 1847),
daughter of Rev. Edward Hunt, younger son of
Hunt of Boreatton.
Party argent and sable
a saltire parted and
counter-coloured.
the reversion to Nicholas de Cantilupe for life." Thomas Hunt of Boreatton, and with ultimate
» V.C.H. Nortbanti. i, 309*.
'• Ibid. 366J.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 34 Edw. Ill (lit nos.),
no. 84 ; 27 Hen. VI, no. 29 j Book of Fees
(P.R.O.), ii, 937.
'"Chan. Inq. p.m., 29 Edw. Ill (lit
noi.), no. 6.
" Cal. Pat. 1324-27, p. 103 J 1334-38,
p. 319 ; Feud. /Itds, iv, 50.
'* Pipe Roll Soe. xi, p. 119.
'• Pipe R. 31 Hen. II, m. 4.
'• Rot. Hug. de IVelles (Cant, .ind York
Soc), ii, 127, 239.
" Rot. Rob. Grosseteste (Cant, and York
Soc), 168 ; Cal. Close, 1234-37, p. 300,
'• G.E.C. Complete Peerage ; Rot. Rob.
Grosseteste (Cant, and York Soc), 212;
Book 0/ Fees, ii, 1399; Cal. Chan, i, 346,
357-
" Feet of F. Div. Cof. 38 Hen. Ill,
no. 86 ; Rot. Ric. Gravesend (Cant, and
York Soc), loD.
•• Cal. Inq. i, no. 27.
«' Rot. Hund. (Rcc. Com.), i, 8i ; Cal.
Close, 1296-1302, p. 164. In 1274, Henry
de Vere seems to have been heavily in
debt to various Jews and ^15 was levied
on the manor of Wadenhoe, held by the
Countess of Lincoln [Cal. of Excb. oj the
Jews, ii, 147, 248).
" Cal. Close, 1296-1302, p. 164.
•> G.E.C. Complete Peerage ; Cal. Close,
i3'8-23, p. 575-
•* Cal. Pat. 1321-24, pp. 156, 179, 180,
182.
" Feet of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 18 Edw. II;
Ctil. Chart, 1317-41, pp. 199, 213.
" Cal. Pal. 1334-38, p. 319.
•' Ibid. p. 463.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. 29 Edw. Ill (lit
nni), no. 6 ; Cal. Fine, vi, 434.
" Close R. 47 Edw. Ill, m. 5 and 6;
Chan. Inq. p.m. 21 Ric. II, no. 52;
ibid. 5 Hen. IV, m. 27 ; ibid. 27 Hen. VI,
no. 29 J Feud. Aids, iv, 50 ; ibid, vi, 500 ;
G.E.C. Complete Peerage ; Kegister Bp.
ISO
John Chedworth, cit. Bridges, Hist.
Nortbants. ii, 390.
•° G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
" Feet of V. Div. Cos. Trin. 24 Hen.
VIII.
" L. and P. Hen. VIII, xviii, pt. ii, g.
449 (i) ; Pat. R. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 5, m.
4 d; Feet of F. Northanti, Hil. 35 Hen.
VIII.
•• Pat. R. 4 Edw. VI, pt. 3.
•« Pat. R. 5 Edw. VI, pt. 3.
■* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), ccxxiii, 61 j
Rccov. R. Hil. 41 Eliz. ro. 68 ; Chan.
Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), ccclxxvi, 94 ; ccccxcviii,
44 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 2 Chas. I ;
Northants. Trin. 8 Chas. I ; Recov. R.
East. i6i;6, ro. 189.
•• Feet of F. Northanti. Trin. 19 Chai.
II.
•' Ibid. Mich. 35 Chai. H.
" Bridj;ei, Hist. Northants. ii, 391 ;
Wotton, English Baronetage, ed. 1741,
pp. 188-190.
NAVISFORD HUNDRED
WADENHOE
remainder to Rev. George Hunt (d. 1853), son of
Rowland, son of the last-named Thomas. George
Hunt was succeeded by his son the Right Hon.
George Ward Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer and
First Lord of the .-Vdmiralty. His son George Eden
Hunt succeeded him in 1877 and died in 1892 leaving
i son George Ward Hunt, captain in the Northamp-
tonshire regiment, who was killed in action in 1915.
His son George Edgar Ward Hunt, born 191 1, is the
present owner.''
In 1249, Edmund de Lacy obtained a grant of free
warren'"' and Ebulo Lestrange and his wife claimed it
in 1330. They also claimed view of frankpledge,
pillory, tumbrel, the assize of bread and ale, and
waifs.** View of frankpledge was held by the lords
of the manor in the 17th century. ''^
In 1298, Henry, Earl of Lincoln, was granted per-
mission to inclose 30 acres pertaining to the manor
of Wadenhoe, lying within the
Forest of Rockingham, in order
to make a park.*'
A water-mill and free fishery
are mentioned in 1356** and
two mills are referred to in 1656
and again in 1818.**
The church of
CHURCH ST. GILES con-
sists of chancel
27 ft. by 16 ft. with a modern
vestry on the south side, clear-
storied nave 36 ft. 6 in. byl9 ft.,
north and south aisles each
12 ft. 6 in. wide, north porch,
and west tower with saddleback
roof 15 ft, by 14 ft. 6 in.,
all these measurements being
internal.
The tower is all that is left
of a late 12th century church
(c. 1 195-1200), the chancel and
nave of which were rebuilt
some time in the next century.
The nave arcades are of this
period, that on the north being
the earlier, but the aisles appear
to have been rebuilt and widened in the 14th century,
when the clearstory was added, the porch erected,
and some alterations made in the tower. The chancel
was recased externally early in the l8th century and
the tower restored,*' and in 1901 there was an exten-
sive restoration of the fabric when the floors of the
nave and aisles were lowered to their original level
and the tower was underpinned to a solid foundation.*'
The roofs are all modern, those of the nave and aisles
being leaded and the chancel roof tiled. The parapets
throughout are plain.
The ground falls rapidly from west to east and the
chancel stands high above the level of the churchyard :
on the north side there are two steps down to the
porch and five from the porch to the floor of the
church. The chancel has an east window of two
lights with a circle in the head, originally c. 1250,
and there are single lancets in the north and south
walls. The vestry is of brick and is five steps below
the chancel level. The 13th century arch to the
nave is of two chamfered orders, the inner one resting
on moulded corbels supported by grotesque heads.
The north arcade (c. 1250) consists of three pointed
arches on piers composed of four attached shafts with
moulded capitals and bases, a half-round respond
at the east end, and a corbel at the west. The pellet
ornament occurs in the capitals of the respond and
of the first pier, and small rosettes in that of the
second pier. The piers stand on large plinths. The
south arcade may be as late as 1280-90 and differs
from the other in that the shafts have a fillet on the
10 3 O
K)
20
30
-I —
*o
22 Cent, late
CJ250-80
I42J Cent, late
» ED 18™ Century
□ Modern
Scale of Feet
Plan of Wadenhoe Church
face ard there is a half-octagonal respond at each
end. The capitals|aIso vary, those of the east respond
and second pier having'rather bold conventional stiff
up-turned foliage of large veined leaves and round
stems. The plinths have claw corners.
The windows of the north aisle are all of 14th
century date, that at the east end being of three
trefoiled lights with modern reticulated tracery, the
others of two lights with quatrefoil in the head. On
each side of the east window is a moulded corbel
for a statue. In the south aisle the east window is of
three tall trefoiled lights, with slight piercings,
c. 1280, and near it, in the usual position, is a pointed
** The account of the Hunt tiicceiiion
wai kindly supplied by the late Mrs. Mary
C. Hall, great-aunt of the present owner.
See also Burke, Landed Gentry^ under
Hunt of Boreatton.
" Cat. Chart, i, 346, 357.
•' Plac. de Quo IVarr. (Rec. Com.), p.
5.8.
♦• Feet of F. Div. Cos. East 1656, no.
189.
♦' Cal. Close, 1296-1301, p. 164.
'* Chan. Iiiq. p.m. 29 Edw. IH (i»t
nop.), no. 6.
" Recov. R. East. 1656, ro. 189 ; ibid.
East. 58 Geo. HI, ro. 215.
" During the incumbency of the Rev.
Brooke Bridges (instituted 1713), Bridges,
the historian, says the chancel and tower
were built at the charge of the present
incumbent,' but as regards the tower this
can only refer to restoration or repair:
Hut. of Northants. ii, 390.
*' The pillars of the nave arcadci were
also underpinned as it was found that
they stood immediately over faults in the
rock, causing their bases to be crushed to
a dangerous extent : ex. inform. Mr. W.
Talbot Brown, F.S.A., architect of the
restoration.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
piscina with fluted bowl and inner trefoil arch on
plain corbels. The other windows are later and of
two cinquefoiled lights. Both doorways have con-
tinuous moulded head and jambs, and there is a
pseudo-Gothic plaster ribbed ceiling to the porch.
At the west end of the south aisle is a stone wall-
bench. The clearstory windows are square-headed
and of two trefoiled lights.
The tower is of three stages with later diagonal
angle buttresses and new tiled roof. On the north
side in the lower stage is a waU arcade of three arches,
the outer semi-circular, the middle one pointed,
springing from shafts and responds with moulded
bases and capitals with conventional foliage. The
west window is a single lancet (restored) and in the
Wadenhoe Church Font
stage above is a small blocked round-headed opening.
There is also a small lancet on the south side in the
middle stage. The bell-chamber windows vary, those
on the east and west being of two round-headed lights
within a semi-circular enclosing arch, the tympanum
pierced with a small vesica-shaped opening ;••* on tlie
south two lancets ; and on the north a restored late
14th-century square-headed window of two lights.
There is a vice in the north-west angle. The 13th
century arch to the nave is of two chamfered orders,
the inner resting on half-octagonal responds with
moulded capitals and bases.
The beautiful 13th century font consists of a cir-
cular bowl moulded round the lower edge and orna-
mented at the top with lunettes of foliage, below each
joint of which are rosettes, dogtooth and masks in
relief set vertically on the face of the cylinder. The
font has been reset on an octagonal stone step.
The early iSth century oak pulpit was re-arranged
at the restoration. The seating is modern, but in
the aisles are some carved and traceried bench ends,
perhaps of l6th century date. There is a brass plate
in the floor of the nave to John Andrewe (d. 1629),
and in the chancel a mural monument to Brooke
Bridges (d. 1702).
There are three bells in the tower, the first cast
by Tobie Norris, of Stamford, in 1603 ; the second
a mediaeval bell inscribed 'Ave Maria gratia plena
Dominus tecum'; the tenor dated 1607. The
tenor alone is rung, the others being cracked.*'
The plate consists of a silver cup and cover
paten of 1755, a flagon of 1776, and a silver dish
with the mark of Jacques Cottin, of Paris, r. 1726,
inscribed ' To the Pious Memory of ye Revd. Mr.
Nat. Bridges who was 33 years Rectr. of this
Church 1747.'"
The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i) all
entries 1559-1648, and births 1654-81 ; (ii) bap-
tisms 1695-1812, marriages 1695-1754, burials
1683-1812; (iii) marriages 1754-1812. The second
volume contains entries of penances between 1719
and 1763.
There are some good 17th century tombs and
headstones in the churchyard, and on one of the
buttresses on the south side are three scratch dials. *^
The advowson of the rectory
ADVOWSON of Wadenhoe has been held with
the manor throughout its his-
tory.*' The first recorded presentation was made
by Henry de Vere in 1227.*'' In 1307 the King
granted licence to Henry, Earl of Lincoln, to
alienate in mortmain the advowson of the church
in substitution for that of Wivelingham, which he
had granted to the scholars of a newly-founded
house in the University of Oxford.** It does not
appear, however, that the licence was ever used.
The benefice was in 1925 united to Pilton {q.v.).
A pension of 10/. a year was payable in 1 291 from the
rectory of Wadenhoe to the Prior of Colne, Essex.*^
The grant was probably made by one of the Veres.
Francis Hilditch gave ^^30 to the poor
CUARIT7' and this sum was invested in 1789 in
j^39 8j. %d. Consols now with the
Official Trustees of Charitable Funds and producing
19;. 9,d. annually in dividends. The income is
applied by the Rector to the widows of Wadenhoe.
*• The cast window has a circular mid-
shaft with rough cushion capital, the other
a plain mullion. The confusion of detail
may he due to the ' rebuilding ' mentioned
by Bridges (see above).
*• 'f'herc arc mural tablets in the north
aisle to Thomas Welch Hunt and his
wife, ' both cruelly shot by banditti, near
Paestum, in Italy,' Dec. 3, 1824, and to
Mary Caroline Hunt, lady of the manor
(d. 1847) : she contributed largely to the
repair of the church in 1844 ; in the south
aisle is a brass plate to Admir,il Sir
M;chacl Culmc Seymour (d. 192c).
'» North, Ch. Bells of Nonhanls. 425,
where the inscriptions are given. The
treble is Tobie Norris's earliest bell in the
county.
" Markham, Ch.Plair of Norihants, 293.
^' One perfect, and traces of two others.
'• Koi. Hug. dr Hrlln (Cant, and York
Soc), ii, 127, 239; Rot. Rah. Gnaetesle
(Cant, and York Soc), 168, 212 ; Rot. kic.
Gravettnd (Cant, and York Soc), 1 00, 1 2 1 i
152
Feet of F. Div. Cof. Mil. 12 Edw. Ill;
Trin. 24 Hen. VII! ; Northants. Hil. 35
Hen. VIII; Trin. 19 Chas. II; Mich.
35 Chas. II ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Hen. VI,
no. 29 ; ibid. (Ser. ii), ccclxxvi, 94 ;
Pat. R. 5 Edw. VI, pt. 3 ; Instit. Bki.
(P.R.O.), 1641, 1670, 1674, 1747, 1783,
1792.
" Rot. Hug. de Wellrs (Cant, and Yoik
Soc), ii, 127.
" Col. Pat. 1307-13, p. II.
•• Popt Ntch. Tax (Rec. Com.), 39*.
W'AnENiioi: Church from thi; South-west
W'adenhok Church : The Interior, looking Easi
THE HUNDRED OF HUXLOE
GREAT ADDINGTON
LITTLE ADDINGTON
ALDWIXKLE ALL SAINTS
ALDVVINKLE ST. PETER
BARNWELL ALL SAINTS
BARTON SEAGRAVE
BURTON LATIMER
CRANFORD ST. ANDREW
CONTAINING THE PARISIUS OF
CRANFORD ST. JOHN
DENFORD
FINEDON
GRAFTON UNDERWOOD
IRTHLINGBOROUGH
ISLIP
KETTERING
LILFORD CUM WIGSTHORPE
LOWICK
SLIPTON
SUDBOROUGH
TWYWELL
WARKTON
WOODFORD
The Hundred of Huxloe is formed of the three ancient hundreds of
Huxloe, Suthnaveslund and Northnaveslund, which were included in the
eight hundreds, claimed by the Abbey of Peterborough,^ and confirmed to it
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. SEAGRAVE
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. I^ANFORd WOOUtUKD .' ■ V ■
:ST. JOIU** _ _ _ *. ■
■••" tiENfORD*
T"^ ?
'^•burton tATlMtR'V-vDD^NCTON/^"^
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1
Index Map to the Hundred of Huxloe
by Richard I.^ In the iith century Northamptonshire geld-roll Naveslund
is said to have contained two hundreds^ ; in Domesday Book Naveslund is
mentioned without any qualification,* but in the i2th century survey of the
county the names Suthnaveslund and Northnaveslund are used.^ The former
contained Irthlingborough, Great Addington and Little Addington, Wood-
ford and Finedon ; the latter, Cranford, Barton Seagrave, Warkton, Kettering,
1 Plac. de Quo JVarr. (Rec. Com.), p. 558.
* Cal. Chart, i, p. 19; Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), pp. 69, 70, Il8, 122, 124-125.
9 y.C.H. Northants. i, p. 297.
« Ibid.
' Ibid. 388fl, 389 a and b.
153
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Grafton Underwood and Burton Latimer.* By 1316, however, these two
hundreds were both included in Huxloe Hundred' and the names disap-
peared from use. In 1447, Henry VI granted various privileges to the Abbey
of Peterborough, including the goods and chattels of felons and outlaws, etc.,
not only belonging to the men and tenants of the Abbey, but also of residents
within the Hundred of Huxloe and other Hundreds ; also all fines, ransoms,
forfeitures, issues and amerciaments as well as fines for licence to agree in
whatever court the judgment might have been given. ^ This was confirmed in
1462, and the charter also confirmed the grants by previous kings of deodands,
wreck of sea, treasure trove, evasions and escapes, and other privileges.^ In
1 540-1, after the dissolution of the Abbey, Henry VIII granted Huxloe
Hundred to Queen Katherine Howard for life,^'' but after her execution it
remained in the Crown^^ until 161 1, when James I granted it to John Eldred
and George WTiitmore.^^ Two years later they sold it to Sir Edward Montagu
of Boughton,^^ whose descendant Ralph, Earl of Montagu, owned the Hun-
dred in 1704.^* A moiety of it appears to have been alienated before 1760,^^
but the remaining moiety passed by descent to George, Duke of Montagu, who
held it in 1776.^* From him it passed to his daughter and heir, Elizabeth, the
wife of Henry, Duke of Buccleuch,^' and the present Duke of Buccleuch is
now lord of the Hundred. ^^ The court was probably held at Huxloe Cross
in Lowick parish (q.v.).
« V.C.H. Northanti. i, 388a, 389 a and *.
^ Ibid. 297.
5 Cal. Chart, vi, p. 88. » Cal. Pat. 1461-67, p. 191.
i« L. IsS P. Hen. Vlll, xvi, p. 716 ; Pat. R. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. 3.
'1 L. (J P. Hen. VIII, xviii, pt. i, no. 982 ; Cal. S.P. Dom. 1603-10, p. 157.
>2 Pat. R. 9 Jas. I, pts. 6 & 8.
^ Close R. 11 James I, pt. 12, no. 9.
" Recov. R. Hil. 3 Anne, ro. 223 ; cf., Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 9 Chas. I & Mich. 1658.
1' Recov. R. East., 33 Geo. II, ro. 162.
" Recov. R. East. 8 Geo. Ill, ro. 479 ; Feet of F. Northants. East. 16 Geo. Ill ; Bridges, Hist, of Northants.
ii, p. 203.
" Feet of F. Northants. East. 16 Geo. Ill ; G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
'* Inf. from Messrs. Nicholl Manisty & Co., Solicitors to the Duke.
154
HUXLOE HUNDRED
GREAT ADDINGTON
Edintone (xi cent.) ; Haderingtona, Nordadington,
Borcalis Adintona, Adington Major (xiii cent.).
The Addingtons lie on the left bank of the River
Nenc and are very nearly equal in size ; Great or
North .^ddington, as it was once called, is 1,260 acres
in extent, being but 127 acres larger than Little
Addington, which lies to the south of it. A little
to the east of the dividing line between them is Ring-
stead and Addington Station on the Northampton
and Peterborough branch of the London Midland
and Scottish Railway. The soil is partly light, and
partly stif? clay : the subsoil clay and ironstone. The
chief crops grown are wheat, barley, peas, and beans.
Ironstone quarries were opened in 1877, but are
now no longer worked. The population in 1921
was 285.
The little village of Great Addington lies on the
road from Irthlingborough to Lowick, which is here
crossed by a road from Ringstead to Cranford St. John.
It is about 1 1 miles away from the station, and about
4 miles south-west of Thrapston. A stream flowing
into the Nene almost encircles it, its water driving
the mill on the south of the village. At Shooters
Hill burials with weapons and ornaments have been
found.*
At the northern end of the village is the church,
and grouped near it, on the eastern side of the road,
are the school (erected in 1873-4) ^""^ ^^^ smithy.
Opposite, and west of the road, is the Manor House,
a good example of simple Jacobean work, and the
residence of Licut.-Col. Malcolm Romer, O.B.E.
The rectory, a little distance to the north-east, a
substantial building of stone, erected in 1678, and
repaired in 1870, is pleasantly situated. The hall
windows of the rectory house, as Bridges noted, contain
several escutcheons : arms of the Peterborough see.
Bacon, Isham, and Towers. Outlying properties are
Rectory Farm in the north-west of the parish, and in
the south-west Great Addington Lodge, to the west of
which are chalk pits and Patch Lodge. There were
riots here and at Rushton and ' Pightesley ' in 1607
regarding the inclosure of lands. An agreement made
in 1232-3 between Baldwin de Vere and the Abbey of
Croyland confirming a grant to the church (q.v.) gives
various place names, such as Sleng near the fee of
Maurice de Audely ; Wudefordebanlon', Grenewey,*
Ridgeway, Trendlade, Lidewellehil, Michelwelle,
Westfield on Scitershul (Shooters Hill), Brook furlong.
By a very doubtful charter of 833,
MANORS Witlaf, King of the Mercians, confirmed
to Croyland Abbey the gift of Wulnoth
his steward of 2 hides of land in Addington, with a
fishery, the advowson of the church of the vill, and a
•virgateof land in another [Little] Addington.' This
grant was confirmed in other doubtful charters by
Behrtulf, King of Mercia in 851,* by Burgred of
Ittli
litii
Croyland Abdey.
Quarterly : 16-4, Gulrs
three knives with thetr
points upwards set Jesse-
utise^ ivith hafts or and
blades argent ; 2 dj* 3»
Azure three scourges or
also set fesseuiise and
upright.
Mercia in 868,' and by King Eadred in 948 ;• the
last confirmation refers to the gift as 3 hides, with
the advowson of the church of the vill.
In the Domesday Survey,
the Abbot of Croyland was
entered as holding 2 hides in
Addington, and a mill render-
ing 131. \d. The value had
risen from 15/. to 40J.' The
abbey's tenant of these 2 hides
in the reign of Henry I was
William son of Guy [f de
Reinbuedcourt].* The Abbot
of Croyland in 1284 held two
parts of the vill of 'Adington
Major' of the king in chief in
frankalmoin,* and in 1 291
the value of his lands was
£6 8/.*" Addington with its
members was in 1316 held
by the Abbot of Croyland,
the Abbot of Sulby, and Robert de Vere," the two
latter each holding manors or lands in both Adding-
tons. In 1318 the Abbot of Croyland was engaged
in a suit against William Marmaduke, bailiff of Richard
Marmaduke of Raunds, and others, for damage done
to his mill pond at Addington.**
The abbey continued to hold the manor, rectory and
advowson until the Dissolution.**
The manor and advowson of the rectory and church
on 25 March, 1544, were granted as parcel of the
property of Croyland Abbey to Sir William Parr,
Lord Parr of Horton, in tail male.** After the death
of Lord Parr without male issue in 1546, a fresh grant
was made in 1558 to Sir Robert Lane, Kt., of Horton,
and Anthony Throckmorton, of Charleston (co.
Oxon),togetherwith grants of other monastic property.
Great Addington manor was held with Brinklow
(co. Warwick) for one fortieth of a knight's fee.*' By
Sir Robert Lane and Anthony Throckmorton the
manor (but not the advowson) was sold in 1562
to Henry Clarke of Stanwick,** who, in his will dated
1574, refers to his farm at Stanwick where he dwelt,
to his wife Anne (who survived him), and to his sons
Gabriel and Christopher. He died in that year, his
heir being his son William, aged 28 years.*' William
Clarke, as lord of the manor of Great Addington,
was with Richard Curteys (son of Richard Curteys,
late of Great Addington, husbandman), Richard
Bolney, and John Bolney, defendant in 1588 in an
action instituted by John Curteys of Great Addington,
another son of Richard Curteys, and others, as to the
admission to certain copyhold lands.**
William Clarke died in 1604, leaving a widow Eleanor,
who lived at Potterspury.*' His heir was his brother
Gabriel, aged fifty, who in 1608 conveyed the Manor of
> V.C.H. Nortbami. i, 241.
'Rot. Hug. de WeUei{Ctat. and York
Soc), ii, 260.
• Kemble, Cod. Dip. i, no. 233, p.
307.
♦ Ibid, ii, no. 265, p. 43.
• Ibid. no. 297, p. 91.
* Ibid. no. 420, p. 284.
' F.C.H. Narlbanli. i, 319. Thi« riie
probably indicated a previous fall through
invading devastation.
• V.C.H. Northants. i, 3893.
• Feud. Aids., iv, 12.
>» Pope Nich. Tax (Rec. Com.), 54*.
** Feud. Aids, iv, 29.
'' Abhrev. Plae. (Rec. Com.), 331- The
dam of the mill pond had flooded lands in
Raundi.
155
'• falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 85-7.
" Pat. R. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 13.
>' Ibid. 4 & 5 Phil. & Mary, pt. 12.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cclxxivi,
178.
" Ibid. cUxi, loi.
" Chan. Proc. (Ser. ii), 223 (ii5).
'• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cclxxxvi,
178.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Great Addington and lands in Great and Little Ad-
dington to William Bedell and William Ward, and
the heirs of William Ward.^*
The manor next appears in the hands of Christopher
Curteys and his wife Dorothy, by whom it was con-
veyed in 1618 to William Bletsoe and Robert Sander-
son.^^ Thomas Bletsoe of Addington, who appears
in a list of ' friends ' in 1655,'" was presumably holding
the manor, which by 1668 was in the hands of three
generations of Thomas Bletsoes, grandfather, father,
and son, and by them with Thomas Gerrard, was
conveyed to Samuel Whitby of London, with the
chief messuage or manor house of Great Addington,**
and lands. The Bletsoes seem to have held under a
settlement or mortgage, for in 1664 the manor with a
water mill, a windmill, a dovecot, and lands in Great
and Little Addington and Woodford was held by
Thomas Andrews, who made a conveyance of it to
John Clarke and Henry Hemington,** and in 1678,
Thomas Andrew and his wife Ann conveyed the manors
of Great Harleston and Great Addington to John
Clendon and Thomas Bletsoe. ^^ After this, the manor
remained in the Andrews family, by whom it was
held with the manor of Harleston (q.v.). Both manors
were entailed by John Andrews by will of 22 July,
1736, and in 1794 Robert Andrews the elder, son of
John Andrews, and Robert Andrews the younger,
conveyed them to James Kindersley and John Russel.*'
No manorial rights are mentioned in the inclosure
Act of 1803, when Robert Andrews was one of the
owners and proprietors of the open and common
fields,*' and no manorial rights are now in existence.
Addington Manor is occupied by Lt.-Col. Malcolm
Romer, O.B.E. Mr. S. E. R. Lane and Mr. G. H.
Capron, J. P., are the chief landowners.
A second manor in Great Addington originated in
ij hides in Addington held in 1086 by William's
trusted minister Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances and
under him by Hugh. The land had risen in value
from 10;. in 1066 to 40/. at the date of the Domesday
Survey (1086),** a rapid recovery after the devastation
of the land at the Conquest or before. The Bishop
forfeited his lands on account of his rebellion
against WiUiam Rufus in 1088. Before the time of
the Northamptonshire Survey (c. 1 1 25), the Bishop's
fee had passed to Aubrey de Vere or the Chamberlain,
but whether the grant had been made to him or his
father Aubrey is uncertain.** It was there entered
as ' 2 hides of the King's fee,'** the 2 hides being made
up of the Domesday ij hides and an additional half
hide of the Bishop's land at Drayton in Lowick,
which properties continued to be held together.
The manor pissed to Robert, younger son ot Aubrey
the Chamberlain,*' who was holding Addington in
n66. He married twice, his first wife being Margaret
Wake, presumably daughter of Geoffrey Wake and
sister of Hugh Wake; with her he received a charter
from Baldwin Wake (Wac)** granting to him ' with
Margaret my aunt' (auita mea),** the vill of Thrapston.
The charter is undated, but must have been made
after 1 168 when Hugh Wake, father of Baldwin the
grantor, was alive and would have been holding
Thrapston. By his first wife he had at least one son
William. His second wife was Maud, daughter of
Robert de Furnell. By an undated charter, Robert
de Furnell granted to ' Robert son of Aubrey de
Twiwell with Maud my daughter in free marriage '
certain lands in Cranford.** These lands were later
confirmed by John, son of Maud, daughter of Robert
de Furnell, ' to Robert de Ver ' as lands which Robert
de Furnell gave ' to my mother in free marriage.'**
Evidently John was a son of Maud by a former hus-
band. By his second marriage, Robert de Vere had
a son Henry, known as Henry son of Robert, who is
said to have been brought up by his kinsman William
de Mandeville, Earl of Essex and Albemarle, son of
Roesia de Vere, and to have commanded with re-
putation at Gysors.** He was probably the judge
of this name of the end of the 12th century. He is
said to have died about 1 193-4, and was succeeded
by Walter, his son. This Walter, as Walter son of
Henry son of Robert, by an undated charter of the early
years of the 13th century, gave to William ' patrunculo
meo,' or uncle on his father's side, all his land in Twy-
well for the service of half a knight and in Addington
for the service of a quarter of a knight's fee which
Robert his grandfather held on the day he died,
to be held of Walter and his heirs.*' Walter married
Lucy, daughter of Gilbert Basset of Weldon. He
had apparently two brothers, William and Geoffrey,
and died in 1210-11. This branch of the family,
which took the name of ' de
Drayton,' continued to be the
overlords of the Veres' holding
in Addington. Its descent
is given under Drayton in
Lowick (q.v.).
William, the elder son of
Robert de Vere, lived on till
the early part of the 13th
century. Under the name of
WiUiam son of Robert son of
Aubrey, he endowed the Hos-
pital of St. John Baptist of
Northampton with lands in
Slipton and Twywell.** His
passed to Thomas de
D E Vere. Quarterly
gules and or with a moUt
argent tn the quarter.
lands in Thrapston
Vere, perhaps his son,
who died in 1204 and was succeeded by his brother
•« Feet of F. Northants. East.
«' Ibid. Mich. 16 JaJ. I.
5 jas. I.
" Cal. S.P. IJom. 1655-6, p. 64.
•» Cloic R. 20 Cha». II, pt. 11 ; Feet of
F. Northants. Mich. 20 Chas. II;
Recov. R. Mich. 20 Chas. II, ro. 125.
'* Feet of F. Northants. Mil. 15 and 16
Chas. II.
•* Ibid. Div. COS. Mil. 29, 30 Chas, II.
•* Close R. 34 Geo. Ill, pt. 21, m. 7 ;
Recov. R. Mil. 34 Geo. Ill, ro. 292.
" Priv. Stat. 43 Geo. Ill, cap. 108.
«• y.C.H. Northantt. i, 311.
•• Ibid. 360.
•• Ibid. 389J.
" Dugdalc, Mon. Angl. ii, 603. As
Robert son of Aubrey the chamberlain of
the King, he made an agreement with the
Abbot of 'I'horncy as to tithes in Adding-
ton and elsewhere, by which agreement
his father Aubrey had been bound.
Drayton Ch. no. 1. This Robert must
not be confused with his uncle Robert
de Vere, who was in frequent attendance
at the Courts of Henry I and Stephen.
"This important charter is in the
collection of the late Mr. Stopford-
Sackville at Drayton House. A series of
photographs of this collection lias kindly
been lent by Miss Joan Wake, hon. sec.
of the Northants Rec. Soc. It is no. 10
of this collection. This collection will
hereafter be referred to as Drayton
Charters. Henry, a hitherto unrecorded
abbot of Bourne, was a witness to this
charter.
" The word is clearly ' auita,' but it is
probably a mistake of the scribe for
'amita.*
•* Drayton Ch. 104.
•' Ibid. 76.
*• He was witness to two of William dc
Mandevillc's charters c. 1176-81. Round,
Cal. Doc. France, 243; Pipe Roll Soc. 31
Hen. 11 (1185), p. 51.
" Dr.iyton Ch. i. The charier is wit-
nessed by Richard and Simon Basset.
•' Ibid. 2, 40, 93.
156
HUXLOE HUNDRED
GREAT ADDINGTON
Baldwin de Vere, who in 1233 was described as
constable of Clun Castle." He obtained exemption
from suit at the hundred court for his lands and
men of Thrapston from Alexander, Abbot of Peter-
borough (1222-6)*" and appears to have taken up his
residence and possibly built a house at Addingon.
In 1232 he received licence from tl\e Abbot of Croyland
as patron, Walter, rector of the church of Addington,
and Bishop Hugh of Lincoln, to build a chapel,
without a baptistery or belfry, in his court at Adding-
ton, where he and his wife Havvise, their guests and
household, might hear divine service, but they were
to visit the parish church on certain feasts. Baldwin
and his heirs could present a chaplain who would be
admitted by the rector, and he and his wife granted
certain lands to the parish church.** At the same
time he exchanged certain lands with the abbot of
Croyland for other lands before his gate, evidently
with the object of improving the approach to his
house.** He was alive in 1242-3,** but in 1 245,
Robert his son was holding his lands.** Robert
married Joan de Waterville, one of the heiresses of
Thorpe Waterville, with whom he received one third
of the manor of Ludborough and other lands. He
died before 1 277 when Baldwin his son was under age.
Baldwin died before 1287, when Robert his brother
did homage for part of the inheritance of Joan his
mother.** Robert de Vere, who was sheriff of North-
amptonshire in 1 301 and 13 19, paid scutage for his
manor of Thrapston held of Thomas Wake in 1316.**
His wife's name was Maud. He died before 1330,
and was succeeded by Ralph his son.*' Ralph died
in 133s,** and an extent of Addington Manor taken
after his death, showed there was then a capital mes-
suage, a dovecot, a garden with a mill in it and
60 acres of demesne.*' His son John de Vere, who
married Alice, was one of the 1 10 defendants in a suit
as to dower in Thrapston in 1345.^ He was killed
at the Battle of Crecy (1346)'* leaving a son John
who survived his father only a few years and died
under age.
In 1349 Simon de Drayton, the overlord of Adding-
ton, granted the wardship of John in respect of that
manor to Thomas Wake, lord of Liddell^^ who was
John's overlord at Thrapston. John was succeeded
by his uncle Robert, who is described as of Addington
He and his wife Elizabeth entailed the manor of
Addington in 1351, when Alice widow of John de Vere
had her dower in it.** Robert died about 1369, leav-
ing three sons, Robert, Baldwin and John. Elizabeth
his widow had her dower in the lands, and she is
described in 1400 as lady of Great Addington,**
where no doubt she lived. Robert the eldest son, also
described as of Addington,** was still under age in
1400.** In 1408, by deed dated at Great Addington,
he, described as ' Robert Vere of Thrapston,' granted
the manors of Thrapston, with his lands in Little
Addington and Woodford, to Sir John Pilkington,
Ralph Grenc of Drayton, Thomas Mulsho and John
de VVelton of Bolde, probably for the purposes of a
settlement.*' On 26 February 1420, Pilkington,
Mulsho and Welton reconvcycd these lands, except the
site and demesnes of the manor of Thrapston and other
lands there, to Robert de Vere.** Robert died appar-
ently in this year or the following, leaving a daugliter
Margaret, married to Thomas Ashby. In 1421
Thomas Ashby, of Louseby in Leicestershire, and
Margaret his wife granted the manor of Thrapston to
Baldwin de Vere, uncle of Margaret.*' Baldwin,
described as of Addington, by deed dated there in
1405, conveyed all his lands to William, parson of the
church of Islip, and William Seymour, apparently
for the purposes of a settlement.*" He died in 1424,
leaving a son and heir Richard,** who married Isabella,
sister of Sir Henry Grene. Richard died in 1480 and
was succeeded by his son Henry de Vere'^ who died
in 1493, leaving four daughters and heirs by his wife
Isabella Tresham, all under age.** These ladies were
also co-heirs of their mother to the lands of Constance,
daughter of Sir Henry Grene, wife of John Stafford,
Earl of Wiltshire, on the death of their son Edward,
Earl of Wiltshire** in 1499. These de Vere co-heiresses
were (i) Elizabeth, who married John son of Sir John
Mordaunt, who was created a baron in 1522, and whose
descendants eventually obtained nearly the whole of
Henry de Vere's property ; (2) Anne, who married, first,
Robert, another son of Sir John Mordaunt, by whom
she had no issue, and secondly, Humphrey Brown,
brother of Sir Wistan Brown, by whom she had a son
George who died without issue in 1558 ; after George's
death his share in the manor of Great Addington being
conveyed by the three daughters of Sir Humphrey
Brown by his second wife Anne, daughter of John,
Lord Hussey,** and their descendants, to the Mor-
daunts before the end of the century ; (3) Constance,
the third daughter, who married John Parr and died
without issue in 1501, when her share fell to her three
sisters ; (4) Audrey or Etheldreda, the fourth daughter,
who married John, son and heir of Sir Wistan Brown ;
they and their son George conveyed their share in
Great Addington to Sir John Mordaunt in 1548.**
Thus by the end of the l6th century all the shares in
Great Addington and Thrapston had come into the
possession of Lewis, third Lord Mordaunt, son of John
son of John first Lord Mordaunt and Elizabeth de
Vere. Lewis leased the manor house of Great Adding-
ton to Arthur Darcy with the chief messuage in the
tenure of John Cootes. In 1610, a term of six years
•» Rol. Liu. Claus. (Rcc. Com.),i, loA. ;
Cat. Liberate R. 1226-40, p. 232.
" Drayton Chart, no. 52.
* * Ibid. nas. 2 1 , 94, 98 j Line. Epis. Reg.
Bp. Wells, Jol. 23.
•• Drayton Chart, no. 68.
•• Bk. of Fees, pt. ii, 937.
" PUe. de Quo Warr. (Rcc. Com.), 500.
♦'Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, fol. 136;
Cbron Petrob. (Camden Soc), 142.
*• Drayton Chart, no. 6.
♦' Plac. de QuolVarr. (Rcc. Com.), 500;
Halstead, op. cit. 265, 268.
" Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. no. 128.
** Drayton Chart, no. 91.
" rear Bks. (Rolls Scr.), 18-19 Edw.
eo
in, 4Sq.
61
" HaUtead, Succinct Genealogies, lyj
no. I
(See Lowick, note 57) ; Cal. Close, 1346-9,
Add.
233-
62
" Drayton Chart, no. 75.
6a
" Feet of F. Div. Cos. 25 Edw. Ill,
61
no. 67.
"
" Drayton Chart, no. 53.
Feet
" Ibid. no. 65.
Div.
" Ibid. no. 57.
18, I
" Ibid. no. 55.
East.
" Ibid. No. 52.
66 1
'• Feet of F. Northants. case 179,
m. 6
file 92, DO. 45.
Edw.
Drayton Chart. 7.
Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. IV, file 74,
II ; Cal. Pat. Hen. VII, vol. ii, 419;
, MS. 1025, p. 6.
Ibid.
Exchcq. Inq. p.m. ptf. 573, no. 2.
Cal. Pat. Hen. VII, vol. ii, p. 419.
Visit, of Essex (Harl. Soc.), i, 166 j
of F. Northants. Mich. 22 Hen. VIII ;
Cos. East. 4 Eliz. ; Northants. Mich.
9 Eliz. ; IVin. 40 Eliz. ; Recov. R.
, 1572, ro. 1068; Trin. 1576, ro. H07.
Com. PI. D. Enr. East, i Edw. VI,
d ; Feet of F. Northants. Trin. X
.VI.
157
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
still remaining of this lease was granted to George
Ciiambers on the conviction for recusancy of Arthur
Darcy and his son Henry.*' In 1609 Henry, fourth
Lord Mordaunt, son of Lewis, died seised of the
manors of Great Addington, Thrapston, Lowick, Islip
and Slipton, and of the chantry of Great Addington.**
The manor of Great Addington passed with the barony
of Mordaunt and earldom of Peterborough until 18 14,
when the last Earl of Peterborough died without issue.**
Lands in Great and Little Addington held by John
Pyel by the rent of a pair of gloves, were granted in
1357 by John Daundelyn the elder of Cianford, to
Adam Franceys, citizen of London, and Henry Pyel,
clerk.'" In 1386 a grant for life of 50 marks rent from
the manors of Inhlingborough, Sudborough, Great and
Little Addington was made by Simon Symeon and
John Curtys of Wennyngton (co. Hunts), who had
these manors from Henry Pyel, Archdeacon of
Northampton, and William Braybrook, by release from
John Pyel to Joan, the widow of John Pyel, citizen of
London.'^ Land in Addington held by Nicholas
Pyel was included among the fees held of Edmund
Earl of Stafford at his death in 1403.'^ The manors
held by the Pyels descended to the Cheyneys of
Irthlingborough, and after the death without issue of
Elizabeth Pyel were inherited, as her kinsman and
heir, by Sir Thomas Cheyney, Kt., son of Sir John
Cheyney, who settled them on his wife Anne. He
died in 15 14, leaving a daughter Elizabeth, then aged
nine and married to Thomas son and heir of Sir
Nicholas Vaux of Harrowden.
Margaret Vere, widow of Sir
George Vere, Kt., unsuccess-
fully claimed the manor"
which passed with IrthHng-
borough (q.v.) to the Vaux
family. Lord, Vaux of Har-
rowden.
The abbot of Peterborough
held land in Great Addington
in the 12th century.'^ This
may have been the manor of
Great Addington which, with
the advowson of the rectory,
parcel of tlie possessions of the Abbey, was granted
to William, Lord Parr of Horton, in 1544.'° It
seems to have passed to Lewis Mordaunt, who with
WilHam le Hunt conveyed it in 1646 to Richard
Raymond and Thomas Watts.'* In 1649 Richard
Raynsford and Katherine his wife conveyed it to
Richard Andrew and Henry Paynter," in 1760 Robert
Lambe conveyed it to John Woodford, clerk.'*
Early in the reign of Henry II (l 154-89) Arnold de
Pavilly (Papilio) granted a mill in Addington to Sulby
Abbey which was confirmed to the Abbey in the time
of Henry II.'»
The Church of ALL SJlNTSconshu
CHURCH of chancel 28 ft. by 14 ft. 4 in., with north
chapel 15 ft. 3 in. by 10 ft., clcarstoried
nave of three bays 39 ft. by 14 ft. 9 in., north and south
\Uu.v. Cheeky argitit and
gules a chezeron azure
uittb three roses argent
thereon.
aisles each 9 ft. 6 in wide, south porch, and west
tower lift. 4 in. by 12ft., all these measurements being
internal. The width across nave and aisles is 38ft. 6 in.
The chapel (the chantry of Our Lady) is a continua-
tion of the north aisle and covers the chancel about
half its length : it is now used as an organ chamber.
Further east is a modern vestry.
The church is built of rubble and has plain parapets
and low-pitched leaded roofs, except to the porch,
which is covered with grey slates. The interior is
plastered. The chancel was restored in 1891, and the
nave roof renewed.
Of the 12th-century aisleless church there are
traces in the large plinths beneath the piers of the
nave, embodying fragments of the former walls ;
and the south doorway of this building, with a round
arch carved with a row of chevron, and jamb-shafts
with foliated capitals, is now the outer doorway of the
south porch. The usual process of enlarging the
chancel and adding aisles to the nave was begun in
the later part of the 13th century, and further altera-
tions were made in the two following centuries, includ-
ing the addition of the south porch and of the tower.
The work of rebuilding appears to have started with
the nave. The chancel and north chapel were built
about I300,and the string-course beneath the windows
is of this approximate date. At present the east
window and the three two-light windows in the
south wall are 15th-century insertions, much restored
in modern times. The eastern window on the south
side, however, is the original opening with inserted
tracery : the sill is lowered to form a sedile, and from
the east jamb of the window, within the opening,
there projects the bowl of a piscina with a cinquefoil-
headed niche behind. On the north side of the chancel
there is a small oblong squint from an old vestry, the
place of which has been taken by the modern building.
The chancel communicates with the north chapel
by an arch of c. 1300, which is filled with early I5tli-
century screen-work. Another screen, later and more
formal in design, separates the chapel from the north
aisle. Immediately to the east of the arch from the
chancel, in the south wall of the chapel, is a projecting
half-octagon piscina with roses on the bowl, resting
upon a cluster of attached shafts, and having a small
ogee-headed hollow behind. There are two windows
in the north wall of tliis chapel. One, a two-light
14th-century opening, contains glass with shields of
arms. The other, set low in the wall, contains frag-
ments of 15th-century glass, and lights a recess in
which is the alabaster efligy of Sir Henry Vere
(d. 1493), founder of the chantry. The efligy has
already been described.*'
The arch between nave and chancel, with semi-
circular responds, is contemporary with the nave
arcades. South of the arch, in the angle between the
south respond and the east respond of the south
arcade, a doorway, inserted in the I5tli century, leads
to a steep stair by which the rood-loft was approached.
The stair is corbelled out towards the south aisle.
•' Pat. R. 7 Jai. I, pt. 47.
" Chan. Inc|. p.m. (Scr. ii), cccix,
200.
•• Rccov. R. Hil. 19 Jai. I, ro. 40;
1-2 Jai. II, ro. 62 ; Trin. 54 Ceo. Ill, ro.
•33 i If o' •■• '■'i*- Coi. Trin. 19 Jai. ;
Northanti. Hil. 14 Chai. I, 22 Chai. 1,
I and 2 Jai. II, 41 Geo. Ill; Pat. R.
p.m.
15 Chai. I, pt. 10; Chan. Inq.
(Scr. ii) di, 64 ; dii, 26.
"• Cal. Close, 1354-60, p. 428.
"Ibid. 1385-9, p. 143; Cloic R.
9 Ric. II. pt. i, m. 8.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Ilcn. IV, no. 4.
" Early Chan. Proc. bdlc. 587, no. 40.
'« y.C.H. Nortbantt. i, 389a.
158
" /, &■ r. Hen. Fill, vol. xix (i) g. 141
(75)-
" Icct of F. Northanti. Mich. 22
Chai. I. " Ibid. Mich. 1649.
'• I'cct of I". Northanti. Trin. 33 and
34 Geo. II.
"Add. Ch. 21512.
" J'.C.H. Nortbanli. i, 413.
■^ mn, «»«,,
Great Audington CiiuRtii trom tiil South
Great Addincton Church : Thl Intkrior, looking East
HUXLOE HUNDRED great addington
and infringes upon an earlier bracket in the east wall :
it is lighted on this side by a small double opening.
The upper doorway remains, but the screen is
gone.
The nave arcades are plain late 13th-century work.
The piers are octagonal, with slender half-octagon
responds ; but the eastern arch of the north arcade
springs from a corbel ; and the pier on its west side
is formed by a cluster of four shafts. The arches are
very wide, and much ironstone is used in them.
Both aisles underwent some alteration after their
original construction, and the outer wall of tlie north
aisle, which is now continuous with that of the north
chapel, has been practically rebuilt. Tlicre is a plain
round-headed north doorway. Tlie windows of the
north aisle are 14th-century two-light openings with
flat heads : the west window is rather later. In each
case, the tracery has been considerably renewed.
The south aisle was partly rebuilt in the 14th
century and was probably repaired in the 15th century,
to which date belong the east and west windows, both
of three lights. The two windows in the south
wall are each of two lights : the western, with a
round quatrefoil in the head, is contemporary with
the arcades : the other has ogee lights and a pointed
quatrefoil, and is of the early 14th century. Between
this window and the east wall of the aisle is a very large
tomb-recess, practically rebuilt.
The south doorway is of the 14th century, with
mouldings on the chamfer-plane. It is covered by
a porch which is partly of 13th-century date. The
stone benches on either side stop short of the outer
doorway, which, as already noted, is a fine late 12th-
century arch. It is clear that this arch was at first
rebuilt in the south wall of the aisle and was covered
by the porch, and that, when a new doorway was made
in the 14th century, the porch was slightly lengthened
and the old arch added to its outer face. This work
formed part of the repair which included the east
part of the aisle, but was apparently not continued
west of the porch, where the older window was left
undisturbed. The porch has a plastered barrel-roof,
apparently of the 18th-century.
The clearstory, consisting of two-light windows,
three on each side, was added in the 15th century,
below the high pitch of the older roof, which appears
above it externally.
The tower was built towards the middle of the
14th century, and has diagonal buttresses and a
finely moulded west doorway, with filleted rolls in
the outer, and a sunk chamfer and wave in the inner
orders, and with a scroll hood-moulding. Above this
is a vaulted niche. In the second stage there is a
lozenge-shaped opening with reticulated tracery.
A similar lozenge is pierced in the lower stage of the
south wall, which is lighted in the second stage by a
two-light window like those of the belfry above. The
second stage in the north wall has a plain single light.
The bell-chamber windows are of two lights with
rather formal reticulated tracery. The carved band
and high parapet with cross-loops above seem to have
been added in the 15th century. The tower communi-
cates with the nave by a chamfered arch of three
orders. The vice is in the south-west angle.
The font is of the 13th century, with a circular
bowl upon a circular stem furnished with four attached
shafts, the capitals of which are joined to the bowl
by grotesque head-shaped projections. There is a
good early 17th-century pulpit, and there is some old
glass in the heads of the north aisle windows, in addi-
tion to that already mentioned.
In the chancel, upon a marble slab placed upon a
low stone table north of the altar, is the brass of a
priest in mass vestments, carrying the chalice and
wafer, with a scroll inscribed ' Illu fili dei miserere
raei.' In medallions at the corners are the emblems
of the four evangelists. The inscription reads :
' Orate pro aia magistri Johis Bloxham primi Capellani
istius Cantarie bcate marie qui obiit quinto die
mensis decembris Anno xpi millimo quingentesimo
xix° cuius anirae propicietur deus amen. Henricus
Veer erat fundator istius cantarie.' This brass evi-
dently was originally in the north chapel, where the
effigy of the founder, as already mentioned, still
remains.
There are mural tablets in the chancel to William
Lambe (d. 1762) and two of his sons, one of whom
of the same name was rector (d. 1767), and to William
Lambe (d. 1780).
There is a ring of six bells, by J. Taylor and Co.,
of Loughborough, 1899. They take the place of four
bells'^ which were then recast, to which a treble and
tenor were added.
The plate consists of a cup of 1835 and paten
of 1845, both London make, and an almsdish
made in Birmingham in 1832, the gift of Mary
Tyley, wife of the Rev. James Tyley, rector, in
1846. There are also two plated almsdishes given
in 1863.M
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (l)
baptisms, 1 694-1 767 ; marriages, 1692-1 754 ; burials,
1692-1767; (ii) baptisms, 1768-1812; burials,
1767-1812; (iii) marriages, 1754-1812.
The church is referred to in a
ADVOWSON doubtful charter of 833 to Croyland
Abbey, and the advowson was held
by that abbey until the Dissolution,*' after which it
was granted with the Croyland manor to Lord Parr
of Horton in 1544, and in 1558 to Sir Robert Lane,
Kt., of Horton, and Anthony Throckmorton, of
Charleston. Before 1 562 the manor and advowson
had been separated, and in 1586 the advowson was
conveyed by Thomas Birte and Cresida his wife
to William Goodfellow and Mary his wife,'*; since
then it has been held by a succession of owners, some-
times incumbents.
Henry Vere at his death on 22 May, 1493, left
directions for the endowment of a chantry of one
chaplain in the parish church of Great Addington,
to be called the Henry Vere chantry, for the souls of
King Henry VII and his consort Queen Elizabeth,
Prince Arthur and Henry, Duke of York, the said
Henry Vere, his parents and benefactors. On 18 Oc-
tober, I5CX3, licence was obtained for the alienation
in mortmain to the priory of St. Andrews, Northamp-
ton, of lands to the yearly value of 9 marks, or to
charge the lands of the priory in Sywell with the pay-
ment of 9 marks yearly to the chaplain, and to alienate
*■ The first and lecond of the old belli
were by R. Taylor, St. Neots, 1807, the
third wai by Tobie Norrii, 1605, and the
fourth watdated 1630. The inscriptioniare
given in North, Cb. Belli oJNoribartis. 175.
" Markham, Cb. Plate oj Nortbanii. i.
•• See above, under the hittory of the
manor.
" Feet ofF.NorthantJ.Mich.zS-agElii.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
to him a messuage, garden, and 3 acres of land in
Great Addington.** At the Dissolution the profits
from the chantry, of which Robert Aleyn was incum-
bent, were £(>?^ The manor of Sywell, belonging
to St. Andrew's Priory, exclusive of the payment
to this chantry, was granted to John Mershe in 1543.*'
The chantry and its endowment were granted
to John, Lord Mordaunt, by George Brown in
'547)** ^nd continued to be held by the Mor-
daunts,*' as the manor of the chantry of Great
Addington.
There are no charities in this parish.
LITTLE ADDINGTON
Edintone (xi cent.) ; Adington Watervill or Parva
(xiv. cent.).
The smaller of the Addingtons differs little in its
main features from Great Addington {q.v.), which
lies to the north of it. The height varies from about
300 ft. to about 150 ft. above ordnance datum.
LiTTLi: Addington Church : West Tower Doorway
the ground near the River Ncnc being liable to floods.
The area is 1,134 acres of land and 9 of water. The
population was 280 in 1921.
The village, triangular in shape, is about 3^
miles north of Higham Ferrers, and | mile south-
west from Ringstead and Addington Station. The
Church of St. Mary lies at its southern end, and is
noteworthy for the beauty of its tower.
To the east of the church is the Manor Farm, the
home, during many generations, of the Sanderson
family. South of it is St. Mary's vicarage, built in
1859, but the vicar resides now at Great Addington.
To the south-west of the church is a two-story thatched
house, now used as a Working Men's Institute,
dated 1712, and a pair of houses on the north side
of the village green, also of two stories, with thatched
roof, is dated 1715. In both cases the windows
have been modernised. Two farms have good stone
barns of late 17th or early l8th century date, with
thatched roofs and coped end gables, and there
is a rectangular dove-house west of the green,
with panel inscribed ' R. L. 1739,' and red
pantiled roof. Another dove-house, to the south-
east of the church, with thatched roof and
lantern, is now in a state of dilapidation. The
public elementary school, built in 1873 for 66
children, also lies to the south of the church, and
near by is the smithy. A Wesleyan chapel was
built in 1844. Little Addington Lodge stands
by itself in the west of the parish.
We have a glimpse of 17th-century village life
in a dispute in 1620 over the inclosing, by
Richard and Edward Beeby,* of ways by which
access was obtained to the common well, the
washing block on the common ground, where it
was used by all the inhabitants, and the cattle
troughs there.
The history of the two Adding-
MANORS tons before the Conquest is given
under Great Addington (q.v.).
The abbot of Peterborough held 3 hides in
inTLE ADDINGTON, which were held by
Hugh his tenant in 1086.^ In the Northampton-
shire Survey of the time of Henry I Hugh's fee
with another half hide had passed to Richard son
of Hugh.8 They later went to the Lisurs, and
Richard son of Hugh may have been a Lisurs.
Possibly it was his grand-daughter, daughter of
William Lisurs, who married Viel de Engaine.*
Their son Fulk took his mother's name, and from
him this mesne lordship passed with Bencfield
(q.v.) to the Lisurs and Bassingbournes.
According to Pytchley's Survey of Peterborough
Fees, there were four fees in Addington which were
held under Peterborough of the Lisurs and Bassing-
bournes, namely, those of Daundelyn, Waterville,
the abbot of Sulby, and the Earl of Gloucester.^ These
fees were partly in Great and partly in Little Adding-
ton, but mostly in the latter, and so it is more con-
venient to take them here.
The Daundelyn fee passed with Cranford St.
Andrew (q.v.). A part of it went to the liarnacks,*
of Irthlingborough (q.v.), and from them to Sulby
Abbey.
The Waterville fee went willi the Watervilles'
"CW. Pal. Hen. VII, ii, p. zi6.
•• Valor Ecd. fRcc. Com.), iv, 312.
•' L. and F. Hen. VIII, xviii, (i) g. 216
(38)-
" Com. Pleat. DecJi Enr. Eait. 1
"Edw. VI.
•• Chan,
id., r.4.
' Chan.
In
q. p.m.
Proc. (Scr. 2), vol.
cccxtIx, no. 9.
• V.C.II. Nortbanti. i, 317a.
• Ibid. 388.^
(.Scr. ii) cccix, joo \
bdlc.
• Pytchlcy, lik. of Fm (North.Tnti
Rcc. Soc), 76 «.
» Ibid. 75.
' Feet of F. Ilcn. Ill, catc 173, file 40,
no. 658.
160
HUXLOE HUNDRED little addington
lands at Thorpe Achurch (q.v.). They were holding
in 1 196, when Hugh do Watervillc convoyed land
to Maud de Houghton, and in 1240 Richard do Water-
villc granted lands and a mill to William, abbot of
Sulby.* The remainder of their lands here was
apparently acquired from the heirs of Reginald de
Waterville, who died in 1287, by the Barnacks,'
and from them by the abbot of Sulby.
The abbey of Sulby gradually bought up the lands
of the other holders in Little Addington from the
early part of the 13th century if not before. Kdward II
confirmed the gifts of Arnold de Pavilly (Papilam)
of lands, the church and mill of Addington ; of
Roger Ic Brabanhoun (i Brabazon) ; of John de
Hotot, of Hampton ; of the manor of Sir Richard
son of Gervase de Barnack, and the lands of William
son of Richard de Barnack.* In 1300 a composition
was made between the abbot of Peterborough and
the abbot of Sulby whereby the abbot of Sulby
had licence to enter on the Barnack lands subject
to the continuance of the homage to the abbot of
Peterborough, as chief lord, of Humphrey de Bassing-
bourne, under whom the Barnacks had held, suit
at the court of Castor, and relief and fealty by the
abbot of Sulby to Peterborough.*' The abbey of Sulby
had a grant of free warren here in 1 316,** and con-
tinued to hold the whole manor until the Dissolution.
In 1543, Edward Humfrey, a younger son of Richard
Humfrey, of Barton Seagrave, received a grant of the
manor and rectory of Little Addington, formerly the
property of Sulby Abbey.** He settled the manor
on his younger brother John, and died without issue
in 1552.** John Humfrey died in 1592, when he
was succeeded by his son John, aged thirty,** who
died without issue in 1 596, when his mother, Margaret,
survived him. John Humfrey, the son, was succeeded
by his brother Edward,*^ citizen and merchant tailor
of London, aged 27, who with Mary his wife in
1597 sold to John Weekly, of Little Addington,
for £S'^ '^^ manor and manor house of Little
Addington, in the occupation of Thomas Selby,
late in the occupation of John Weekly,*' the rent of
Zi. from the mills called Cotton Mills, and two barns
known as the Tithe Barn and Church Barn. John,
father of Edward Humfrey, had settled the manor
and advowson on his wife Margaret, and had had a
daughter Elizabeth Burton, the mother of Rowse,
Thomas, and Israel Burton, and a daughter Marjory
Mallory, the mother of Thomas, Anthony, William,
and Katherine Mallory. Edward left a son Edward,
who died in 1599, aged five, leaving sisters, Eleanor
aged two, and Dorothy aged one, as his heirs.*'
John Weekly, in 1606, settled certain lands in Little
Addington on his son Thomas on his marriage with
Anne, daughter of Richard Templer, and died in
1628.** A settlement was made in 1630 by Thomas
Weekly, with John Weekly, presumably his son,
and .Anne Weekly, widow, evidently his mother,**
and in 1656 the manor was in the hands of John Weekly
(Weckeley) and Mary his wife, and Thomas Weekly,
presumably their son.^' John Weekly and Thomas
Weekly, senior, and Susan his wife in 1682 conveyed
the manor to Robert Underwood, and Henry Weekly,'*
the latter of whom was already holding the Gloucester
manor (q.v.) in Little Addington. This was probably
only a settlement, as in 1685 Thomas Weekly, senior,
and his wife Susan, with Thomas Weekly, junior,
conveyed it to Samuel Penn, apparently for the pur-
pose of a mortgage.*' Thomas Weekly, senior, and
Susan his wife were holding it in 1691.** It was
possibly the manor which William Murdin, clerk,
and his wife in 1737 conveyed to Robert Lambe.'*
When Bridges wrote, the lordship was divided
among several freeholders, but the manor belonged to
Henry Weekly. The most considerable estate, he
writes, was owned by the family of Sanderson, who
with it held the advowson.
At the Inclosure Act of 1 803,
William Zouth Lucas Ward
was lord of the manor, and
one of the principal proprie-
tors of lands and messuages
with Thomas Sanderson, clerk,
vicar and owner of the ad-
vowson, and George Capron.
There is now no lord of the
manor, but Mr. G. H. Capron,
lord of the manor of Stoke
Doyle, is one of the principal
landowners in the parish.
One and a half hides in Little Addington, held
before the Conquest by Azor, were entered in the
Domesday Survey among the lands of the Bishop of
Coutances,^' whose tenant there was Osmund.^'
After the forfeiture of the bishop's lands it was
bestowed on either the first Earl of Gloucester or his
father-in-law, and continued parcel of the Gloucester
fee. In the 12th century Northamptonshire Survey^'
it is entered as a hide and one and a half virgates, held
by William de Huntingdon of the fee of Gloucester.
The Grimbalds seem to have succeeded William de
Huntingdon, as in 1198-9 Maud, widow of Robert
Grimbald, granted land in Addington and Slipton to
Ernald de Bosco,-' and this property appears in 1284
as a quarter of a knight's fee in Little Addington
which John de Bosco was then holding of the Earl of
Gloucester. It was held of John de Bosco by Hugh
Daundelyn, under whom Warner de Garney and
Beatrice de Wolaston were sub-tenants.'*
The Daundelyn descent followed that of Cranford
Sanderson. Paly argent
and azure a bend sabte
tviib three
thereon.
rings
' Feet of F. Northants. 8 Rich. I, caie
. 171, file I, no. 15; ibid. Hen. Ill, case
1731, file 19, no. 386.
• There wai a family quarrel in 1281
ai to lands in Addington, when the
question of the legality of the marriage of
Robert de Waterville and Alice, his wife,
was raised. Anct. D. A5010. In 1284
this fee is said to have been held by the
heirs of Reginald de Waterville and
Richard de BarnacV. Feud. Aids iv, 12 ;
cf. Cott. MS. Cleop. C ii, fol. 44^.
• Dugdale, A/ob. Angl. vi (ii), 904 ;
ef. Col. Pal. 1292-1301, p. 520.
"Cott. MS. Cleop. C ii, fol. ^id ;
Reg. Rob. Swaffham (Peterb. Cath. Lib.),
cclxxvi. " Cat. Chan, iii, 306.
'• L. and P. Hen. VIII, xviii (i), g. 981
(62) ; Pat. R. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 16, m. 32.
'* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xcv, 104.
'• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxxxvi, 89.
" Ibid, ccxlv, 93.
'• Close R. 39 Eliz. pt. 22 ; Feet of F.
Northants, Hil. 39 Eliz.
^' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cclxii, 122.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccdxxviii,
48.
'• Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 6 Chas. I.
161
" Ibid. Trin. 1656.
" Feet of F. Northants, Mich. 34
Chas. II.
"Ibid.Mich.IJas.il.
«• Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 3 Wm.
and Mary.
" Ibid. Trin. loand 11 Geo. II.
•* In Naveslaad hundred.
•• V.C.H. Northants. i, 311.
•' Ibid. 388. In South Navesland.
" Feet of F. Northants. 10 Ric. I, case
171, file 2, no. 38; Farrer, Honors and
Knights' Fees, i, 37.
" Feud. Aids, iv, 12.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
St. Andrew (q.v.). Maurice Daundeljii was returned
in the 1 2th centur>- Northamptonshire Survey.
In 1357 John Daundelyn the elder, of Cranford, sold
to Adam Franceys, citizen of London, and Henry
Pyel, clerk, lands, rents, etc., in Cranford,^ a yearly
rent of 6 barbed arrows, which he used to receive of
Walter Daundelyn, John Daundelyn, and Thomas
Daundelyn of Little Addington, of their lands in
Little Addington, of the fee of the Earl of Glou-
cester, and a rent of a pair of gloves from the lands of
John Pyel in Great and Little Addington. Walter,
John and Thomas Daundelyn, of Little Addington,
were witnesses to this grant. It was possibly this
John Daundelyn of Little Addington who was
assaulted and maimed at Higham Ferrars in I3S4-^'
When the Daundelyns ceased to hold in Addington
does not appear. But their property is evidently
represented by a manor of Little Addington, of which
Barnabas Wykyrley or Wykeley or Weekly made a
conveyance in 1553 to Giles Wykeley^^ (or Weekly),
ScA'.F OF Feet
Plan of Little Addington Church
v/ho settled it in 1554^ on his wife Eleanor. Accord-
ing to Bridges, Eleanor was the daughter of Thomas
Sawyer of Raunds, and Giles died in 1558 9 se'sed of
the manor of Addington Parva, held of the Crown as
of the honour of Gloucester, leaving a son John as his
heir.** A Richard Weekly appears as a tenant in the
Sulby manor (q.v.) in 1597, and in 1627 Richard
Weekly died at Little Addington seised of a messuage
and lands held of F^dward Lord Montagu as of his
hundred of Huxloc ; of one and a half virgates of land
held of the king in chief by knight service i^ and of a
cottage held of Edward Lord Montagu as of the
honour of Gloucester. By his will, dated 3 June 1626,
he bequeathed this cottage to his son Richard, but
his heir was his son Henry .^
The church of ST. MART stands
CHURCH on high ground above the road, and
consists of chancel 20 ft. by 15 ft.,
with modern vestry and organ chamber on the
north side, clearstoried nave of three bays 41 ft.
by 14 ft. 3 in., north and south aisles each
about II ft. wide,^' north and south porches, and
engaged west tower 11 ft. by 8 ft. 9 in., all these
measurements being internal. The tower is sur-
mounted by a short spire. The church is built on
ground falling sharply from south to north, so that
while the level of the south porch is two steps above
that of the nave, the north porch is five steps below
it. There is also a westward slope.
The church is built of rubble, plastered internally,
and the chancel has a low, modern slated roof. The
other roofs are leaded, with plain parapets to the
clearstory and north aisle ; the lead overhangs on the
south aisle. The greater part of the building belongs
to the last quarter of the 13th century, covering per-
haps the period c. 1 280-1 300, the north arcade and
two windows at the west end of the north aisle being
rather earlier in character than the rest of the work,
though the whole appears to have been more or less
continuous. The tower was
built towards the end of the
14th century, when the clear-
story and south porch were
added and the chancel altered.
The east end of the north
aisle was rebuilt in the 15th
century, and the date 1705
on a stone below the parapet
apparently records some re-
construction of the north wall
at that time. The church was
restored and reseated in 1857,
and there was a more exten-
sive restoration in 1882-3,
I280~ 1300 when the vestry was added.
I360~70 The chancel has a small
1512 Century 14th century east window of
EH Subsequent »lV1oa two trefoiied lights with
20 30 40 K3 quatrefoil in the head, and a
diagonal buttress at the north-
east angle. If the window is
in its original position it
seems likely that the north
rebuilt at this period, and
In the south wall is
and east walls were
possibly the chancel shortened,
a 13th century priest's doorway of a single chamfered
order, and west of it a low-side window, the lower
part of which (now blocked) is contemporary with the
doorway, the head being of 14th century date. There
are remains of a destroyed window east of the doorway.
The chancel is open its full width to the nave by a late
13th century arch of two chamfered orders, the inner-
most resting on moulded corbels supported by heads.
The nave arcades have excellently moulded arches
and piers composed of clusters of four sli.ifls, with
arriscd projections in the hollows between. In the
later south arcade these projections are enlarged
and treated as additional shafts, but have no capitals.
The responds correspond with the piers, except at the
east end on the south side, where the arch springs
from a moulded corbel carved on the underside with
foliage.
•• Cat. Clou, 1354-60, p. 428.
•' Cal. Pat. 1354-8, p. 87 i ibid. n^iM,
p. .87.
•• Fttt ol F. Northanti. Eait. 7 Ed. VI.
" Ibid. Mich. 1 Phil, and Mary.
•* llin. Noribanli. ii, 207 ; let alio
Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), cxjiv, 217.
•* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Str. ii), dcizviii,64.
162
•• Ibid.
" The north .liilo it 10 ft. q in. wide at
icicait end, and the inuth aide 11 ft. The
width acroti n.ivc and aiilca i> 41 ft.
J.ITILE AdDINCTON ChURCII KROM lllE SoU TH
HUXLOE HUNDRED little addington
The south doorway is of two moulded orders on
angle shafts with moulded capitals and bases, and the
porch opening of two chamfered orders, the inner
springing from half-octagonal responds with much
restored moulded capitals. The plainer north door-
way has a continuous round and hollow moulding,
without hood, and tlie porch, which is lo ft. square
internally, is covered by a stone vault with chamfered
diagonal ribs. The roof space above was lighted by a
window in the gable, now blocked, but was never
properly a porch-chamber. The porch has stone
benches and an outer double chamfered arch of two-
centred segment form.
There is a beautiful double piscina with two
trefoiled openings and quatrefoil over, together with
an aumbry in the south aisle, and a single piscina in
the east wall of the nortli aisle. Above the double
piscina is a plain stone image-bracket. The east
window of the south aisle consists of three uncusped
gradated lancets with pierced spandrels, and the
west window and one on either side of the doorway,
are of two lights with forked mullion. Another
window in this aisle is a 14th century insertion, of
three trefoiled lights with fully developed reticulated
tracery. In the north aisle the west window^ and
another in the north wall adjoining it, are each of two
plain lights with a cuspcd circle in the head, c. 1280 ;
another has a forked mullion, and two at the east end
are four-centred 15th-century windows of three
cinqucfoiled lights. The clearstory has four win-
dows on the south side and three on the north, all
square headed and of two trefoiled lights.
The tower is inserted at the west end of the nave,
cutting it short by a bay, the reason being perhaps the
westward slope on which the church stands. The
tower is of three stages with moulded plinth, coupled
buttresses, and battlemented parapet above a band
of quatrefoils. The beautiful western doorway, with
sculptured figures in the hollow mouldings, has a
crocketed hood with finial and flanking pinnacles,
and over it is a traceried window of two lights. The
deeply recessed bell-chamber windows are of two
trefoiled lights with quatrefoil in the head except on
the south side, where the upper part of the window is
older work re-used, with a
trefoiled circle in the head,
similar to the west windows
of the north aisle. The spire
has two sets of lights. The
arms of Pyel (a bend between
two molets) occur upon the
upper stage of the tower on
the north side, and ironstone
is freely used with picturesque
effect. Internally the tower
opens into the nave by a lofty
arch of four^ continuous
chamferdU orders, and into the aisles by similar but
less lofty arches. The vice is in the south-west angle.
The 15th-century rood screen, with its doors,
remains ; it has two bays on each side of the middle
PviL. Argent a bend
between two moleti sable.
opening, but has been badly painted in brown pigment,
and the top is new. The oak pulpit is contemporary
with the screen, and has carved panels ; it stands on a
modern stone base. Outside the east wall of the south
aisle are indications of a blocked outer doorway, but
there is no sign of any remains of an internal stair to
the rood loft. The font is modern, with octagonal
p.inelled bowl. The seating dates from 1 857.
At the restoration of 1883 most of the monumental
slabs in the chancel floor, with the Sanderson arms
and inscriptions, were sunk, and tiles placed over
them. Some brass plates, including one to John
Sanderson, 1672, are in the vestry.
There are three bells, all by Hugh Watts II, of
Leicester. The treble is an alphabet bell dated 1610,
and the second and third, dated respectively 1620 and
1629, are inscribed ' HIS Nazarenus Rex Judeorum
Fili Dei miserere mei.' '"'
The plate consists of a paten of 1853 and a cup of
1857, both I-ondon make.'**
The registers begin in 1588.
The advowson belonged to Arnold
ADFOWSON de Pavilly (Papilam) in the middle of
the 1 2th century, who gave it to
Sulby Abbey.*^ The lords of the manor seem to have
regained possession, and in 123.). it was regranted to
William Abbot of Sulby by Richard de Waterville, who
was received into all benefits of the Abbey.*' It was
held by the abbey until the Dissolution, when in 1543
it was granted with the manor and rectory to Edward
Humfrey.** It was not included in the sale of the
manor to John Weekly, but in 1608 was in the hands
of Rowse Burton, John Humfrey's grandson, who
conveyed it to Dorothy and Eleanor Humfrey, the
daughters and co-heirs of John Humfrey's son
Edward. ■*' It was conveyed in 1621 by Richard Pickes
andEleanor his wife, and Henry Calthorpe and Dorothy
his wife, evidently Edward Humfrey's daughters, to
John Sanderson,** of Little Addington. In 1634 John
Sanderson, and his wife Cecily, and Thomas Sander-
son were dealing with the rectory and advowson,*' as
were John Sanderson and his wife Margaret and
Theophilus Sanderson (their son and heir) in 1 662,*'
and Theophilus alone in 1669.''* John Sanderson
died in 1672, and the death in 1683 of his son Theo-
philus was followed by that of John Sanderson, son
and heir of Theophilus, in 1687, at the age of twenty-
three.^" The rectory and advowson must then have
been held by Sanderson co-heiresses, the daughters
of Theophilus, one of whom, Martha wife of Thomas
Pemberton, was with her husband dealing with one-
third in 1695,5* and in 1697.^^ Elizabeth Sanderson,
the daughter of Theophilus, married her cousin,
Anthony Sanderson, of Serlby Hall, Co. Nottingham,
and died in 1694.^' The rectory and advowson ulti-
mately passed to her husband with Little Addington
mansion. He became vicar in 1720,'* and died in
1737. Harvey Sparkes and William Sanderson pre-
sented in 1737, William Sanderson in 1770, and
Thomas Sanderson in 181 3. ^^
The last Sanderson to hold the rectory and advow-
•* The we»t window is wholly restored.
•* Three on the inner tide.
♦• North, Cb. Bells of Nortbants. 176.
♦' Markham, Cb. Plate of Nortbantt. 3.
♦• Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, (ii) 904.
•» Feet o( F. Norcbanti. Hen. Ill, ca»e
172, file 27, no. 340.
«« Pat. R. 35 Hen. VIII, pt. 16, m. 32.
" Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 6 Ja». I.
" Ibid. Hil. I9]as. I.
«' Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 10 Chas.I.
" Ibid. Hil. 12 and i3Chas. II.
"Ibid. East. 21 Cha>. II.
'» M.I. in church.
" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 7
Will. HI.
'» Ibid. Hil. 9 Will, and Mary.
" M.I. in church.
" Information supplied by Mrs. Eliz.
Sander son-Etough.
" Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.).
163
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
son was Thomas Sanderson, who was also vicar, and
died unmarried in 1855.^* Mrs. Benton Keane now
holds the advowson.
A vicarage is referred toe. 1 2 14-15, and was endowed
with a moiety of the church, the abbey and convent of
Sulby retaining the other half.*' The endowment now
includes 275 acres of glebe, a part of which was a
thank-offering for the Restoration, given by John
Sanderson, ' Counsellor at law,' who had been ' a great
suffer>,r for King Charles I.'^ An allotment was made
for tithes at the passing of the Inclosure Act.*'
There are no charities in the parish.
ALDWINKLE ALL SAINTS
Aldvincle {x\ cent.) ; Aldwj'ncle, Audewinlde,
Ardewinlde (xv cent.). The parish of Aldwinkle All
Saints was united to that of Aldwinkle St. Peter by
Order in Council of 29 November 1 879.^ The combined
parishes contain 2,886 acres, the most of which isgrass-
land, with a fair amount of wood around Lyveden.
The parishes are bounded on the east by the River
Nene, and on the south by its tributary Harper's
Brook. From the low land near these streams the
ground rises towards the north-west, where it reaches
a height of nearly 290 ft. The soil is clay and gravel.
A road from Thorpe Waterville leads over the Nene
and across the bridge, called Brancey Bridge, over
Harper's Brook, to the village of Aldwinkle All Saints.
The church lies on the south side of the road and the
South Hay, Lady Wood, Bradshaw Wood and
Bareshanke Meadow (now Bearshank Wood).' Old
Mill Bridge, carrying the road from I slip to Lowick
over Harper's Brook, may mark the site of the manorial
mill. Other place names are Cockermouth Closes,
Great Laund, Old Laund and Old Park.
In 1651 the constables and third-boroughs presented
seven recusants and declared that the village contained
no ale house nor any Sabbath breakers, common
drunkards or profane swearers ; that it was well
provided with churches in a state of repair; its high-
ways and bridges were in good repair and there was
provision for its poor.*
An Act for inclosing the common lands of Aldwinkle
was obtained in 1772.
>— ^i."^ — '•«.,. . • ^aJt-Tf^!-
Aldwinkle: Dryden's Birthplace
manor house, which was pulled down about 1826,
adjoined the churchyard on the east.* The rectory
house, the birthplace of John Drydcn, the poet, is a
plain but rather picturesque two story building of
rubble and plaster with a thatched roof. It is, in
part, of i6tli century date, but tlic windows have been
modernised and the liouse othcrv/ise altered. The
road continues through Aldwinkle St. Peter to Oundlc.
A branch from it goes to Lowick and another to the
north to Lyveden where some of the woodland is in
this parish. We have here mention in the 17th
century of the Over and Great Assart, South Wood or
In 1086 Picot, Landric and Oger held
M.4N0RS of Guy de Reinbuedcurt 5 hides in
Aldwinkle All Saints, wliich in King
Edward's time had bcin held freely by Lef si.* Richard,
son of Guy de Reinbuedcurt, held in Aldwinkle
3 hides, less half a virgatc, of the queen's fee.* His
licir was his daughter Margery, who married Robert
Foliot, lord of the barony of Wardon,' and ihe over-
lordship of half a knight's fee in Aldwinkle afterwards
passed with this barony.*
Tlie mesne tenant in 1242-3 was Henry de Ald-
winkle,* probably failicr of Richard de Aldwinkle, son
** Norihonii N. and Q. i, 115.
»' Rot. Hug. dt Wtllet (Cant, and York
Soc), 130.
•' Lanidownc MS. 1029.
" Priv. Stat. 1 1 Cto. IV, c. 19.
' London Gaxillt, 5 Dtc. 1879, no. 7201.
Set also Loc. Gov. Bd. Order, 25 Mar.
1885. ^ Alloc. Arch. Soc. Rep. vii, 251.
■ Pat. R. 9 Chai. I, pt. 5, no. 24 ;
12 Chai. II, pt. 24, no. 12.
* Quarter Sen. Rtc. (Norlhanlf. Rcc.
Soc), 124, 161, 172, 227.
' r.C.H. Northanti. i, 343a.
• Ibid. 365/I.
' Rrldgci, Hill. Northanti. i, i iz.
• Uk. of Feel, pt. i, 495, 499 ; Cat. lag.
p.m. ii, 374.
' Bk. of Feei, pt. ii, 937.
164
HUXLOE HUNDRED
of Henry** and grandfather of Henry de Aldwinkle,
who rendered 2/. 6d. a year to the barony of Warden
in 1280," and held half a knight's fee in Aldwinkle in
1284." This Henry had a son Richard de Aldwinkle/*
who in 131 3 helped to carry off the goods of Aymer
de Valence in Aldwinkle St. Peter** (y.f.). and was a
tenant by knight's service in Aldwinkle in 1316.** In
1 35 1 Henry de Aldwinkle, probably Richard's son,
conveyed the manor of Aldwinkle to Adam Bacoun,
knight,** evidently as trustee, for John de Aldwinkle
held there in 1376,** and lands were conveyed by Sir
Simon Felbrigge and his wife Katherine, probably as
trustees, to William Aldwinkle in 1434-5*'*. William de
Aldwinkle died in 1 463 leaving a widow who married
William Chambre, founder of Chambre's chantry.*'
His heir was his kinsman Thomas Lenton** who died
seised of the manor in 1504 leaving a son John,*' who
died in 1558. His grandson John son of Robert
Lenton succeeded, and apparently settled the manor
in 1582*' and again in 1583** on his first wife Dorothy.
She died in the following year and he married as his
second wife Elizabeth Shepperde. In 1587 and again
in 1593 he leased his messuage and lands in Aldwinkle
to Robert Hatley and John Viccars. His son Simon
was holding at the end of the l6th century, when he
disputed his father's leases.*^
In 161 3*' and 1616^* Simon Lenton conveyed the
manor to Sir Oliver Luke of Woodend (Co. Beds) and
Sir John Luke, probably in trust for Sir Oliver's sister
Anne, wife of Sir Miles Fleetwood,*' who dated a
document from Aldwinkle in
1627** and presented to the
church in 1637.*' He was
Receiver of the Court of
Wards, and had three eminent
sons, William, a Royalist,
George, who fought in the
Swedish army under Gustavus
Adolphus, and Charles, a well-
known Parliamentary officer.
Sir Miles Fleetwood died in
1641 and was succeeded in his
estates and office by his son
William, also a knight, who
was deprived of the Receivership of the Court of Wards
by Parliament, the office being conferred in 1644 on his
brother Charles.** In 1646 Sir William Fleetwood of
Aldwinkle petitioned to compound for his delinquency
in having attended the king, as his sen'ant in ordinary,
at Oxford and elsewhere. He was certified to be
suffering from dropsy and annuities were payable to
his brother Charles and his sister Anne.*' Sir William
Fleetwood. Party
tvavy azure and or six
martlets countercoloured .
ALDWINKLE
ALL SAINTS
and his wife Elizabeth conveyed the manor of Ald-
winkle in 1650 to Richard Gorman and William Snowe,
probably for purposes of settlement."
In 1659 Nathaniel Whiting, minister of Aldwinkle
All Saints, dedicated his ' Old Jacob's Altar newly
repaired ' to the three Fleetwood brothers. ' I am
not ashamed. Right Worsliipful,' he says in words
particularly addressed to the eldest of them, ' to tell
the world how ancient and affectionate a Maecenas
you have been to me, that I received many encourage-
ments from you when I was a student in the Universi-
tie, how ready I have always found you to lay forth
your power and interest for me, how freely and speedily
you placed me at Aldwinkle, and how muche I have
found the favour of a Patron and the affections of a
friend (I might go higher) for the space of many
ycares. . . .'
Sir William died in 1674*** and was succeeded by his
son Miles, M.P. for Northampton county (1677-80),
who died in 1688, leaving a son and heir William.**
This William Fleetwood with his wife Elizabeth
conveyed the manor of Aldwinkle All Saints and a free
fishery to John Carpenter and William Whitwell in
1693,** probably for a settlement. Bridges states that
William Fleetwood sold the manor to Elmes Spinkes,
who was holding in 1723.** From Elmes Spinkes the
manor and fishery seem to have passed to Elizabeth
Spinkes, the wife of Col. Thomas Gwillim, of Old
Court, aide-de-camp to General Wolfe, who was holding
in 1754.** Their daughter Elizabeth Posthuma
married Lt.-Col. John Graves Simcoe,** who was
dealing with the property in 1784 and 1788.*' The
estate has been sold, but all manorial rights have ap-
parently fallen into desuetude.
In 1242-3 half a knight's fee in Aldewinkle repre-
senting TITCHMJRSH MANOR was said to be
held of William de Ros of Hamelak.*' Mentions of
this overlordship recur until the 15th century.** In
1242-3 the demesne tenant of this half knight's fee
was William de Mosca.** In 1284 he had been
succeeded by William de la Zouche,*" who was tenant
of one knight's fee. In 1316 allot part of this holding
had passed to Henry Titchmarsh,** and in 1346 to
Gilbert Titchmarsh " In 1428 a fourth part of a
knight's fee in Aldwinkle, held of the Lord of Ros and
once in the tenure of Gilbert de Titchmarsh, was
shared by William Aldwinkle, Henry Neville and John
Travers.** The manor of Aldwinkle called 'Tyche-
mersh Manor' was conveyed in 1427-8 by Robert
Longe and his wife Anne to William Aldwinkle,William
Armeston, John Beans, clerk,** and may afterwards
have passed with the chief manor of Aldwinkle (q.v.).
*>Buccleuch MS. no. 67.
'• Cal. Inq. ii, 374.
** Feud. Aids., iv, 13.
"Feet of F.Ed. II, case 175, file 65,
jio. 193.
" Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 72.
'« Fiud. Aids, iv, 28.
« Feet of F. Ed. Ill, caie 177, file 79,
no. 379.
'• Bridget, Hist. Nortbanls. ii, 209.
"•» Feet of F. Hen. VI, caie 179, file 94,
no. 77.
" Cal. Pat. 1485-94, p. 253.
'• Buccleuch Deedi, G 31.
*• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), xviii, 95.
•• Recov. R. Northanti. Hil. Eliz. ro.
44«-
" Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 25 & 26
Eliz.
"Chan. Proc. (Ser. ii) vol. ii, bdle.
244, no. 1.
" Feet of K. Northanti. Eaat. n Jas. I ;
Recov. R. Northantt. East. 11 Jas. I, ro.
122.
'♦ Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 14 Jai. I.
" V.C.H. Beds, iii, 239; D.N.B.
'« Cal. S.P. Dom. 1627-8, p. 372.
«' Init. Bks. P.R.O. " D.N.B.
•• Cal. Com. for Comp. 1403.
•"Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 1650;
Recov. R. East. 1652, ro. i.
"a D.N.B.
" Nortbanls. N. and Q. (new Ser.) i, 1 1 3
et seq.
" Feet of F. Northants. East. 5 Wm.
and Mary.
" Hist. Northants. ii, 209.
•• Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 27
Geo. II.
•' Burke, Landed Gentry.
" Recov. R. Northanti. 24 Geo. Ill,
ro. 18; ; 28 Geo. Ill, ro. 41.
•' Bk. of Fees, pt. ii, 937.
•• Feui.. Aids, iv, 13, 49, 51 ; Cal. Inq.
viii, 339.
•• Bk. of Feel, pt. ii, 937.
*" Feud. Aids, iv, 13 ; Cal. Inq. viii, 339.
*^Feud. Aids, iv, 28.
•« Ibid. 449. *>Ibid. 49, 51.
" Feet of F. Hen. VI, case 179, file 93,
no. 46.
165
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
The church of ALL SAINTS consists
CHURCH of chancel 25 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft. 9 in.
with vestry on the north and chapel on
the south side, clearstoried nave of three bays 36 ft.
6 in. by 14 ft., north and south aisles, south porch,
and west tower 11 ft. 6 in. square, all these measure-
ments being internal. The north aisle is 8 ft. 6 in.
wide and the south aisle 7 ft. 6 in., the width across
nave and aisles being 34. ft. 8 in.
With the exception of the tower, which is faced
with dressed stone, the church is built of rubble,
plastered internally, and the chancel has a grey slated,
eaved roof. The other roofs are leaded and of low pitch,
behind battlemented parapets.
The chancel, chancel arch and south arcade of the
nave belong to the latter half of the 13th century,
though the chancel retains only two original windows
and has been otherwise altered. The north arcade
m m^^'^-mm^^m
North Aisle
.w.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.nii'''.'.'.
Nave
South Aisle
ilK'-'t-'-^l
a 132! Century |,'
Q 14™ Century I
ESISIHCentur/^
10 5
Scale of Feet
Plan of All Saints' Church, Aldwinkle
and aisle, vestry and clearstory date from the 14th
century, the arcade being first built, while the chapel,
tower and porch are 15th-century additions, the
chapel having been erected by William Chambre and
his wife, who founded a chantry there in 1488. Several
new windows were inserted about this time. The
chancel was restored in 1863, and the rest of the
church in 1893, when the old scats and a west gallery
were removed and the tower arch opened out. The
building is at present used chiefly for funerals, and is
furnished with chairs.
The chancel has a four-light east window with
much restored early geometrical tracery, and in the
north wall is a window of two uncusped lights with a
quatrcfoilcd circle in the head. The other windows,
one at the west end of the north wall and tlie other on
the south side, are 15th-century insertions, each of
two cinquefoiled lights. The piscina is in the sill of
the south window and there are brackets for statues
in the east wall, on cither side of the window. The
chancel arch is of two chamfered orders on moulded
corbels, that on the south side having nail head orna-
ment and a small angle shaft supporting the outer
order.
The 13th-century south arcade has chamfered
arches of two orders springing from cylindrical piers
with moulded capitals and bases, and from a similar
respond at the west end. The nail head occurs in the
capital of the easternmost pier, and at the east end the
arch 'ests on a corbel.''* The circular bases stand on
large square plinths 9 in. high, which may be part of
the south wall of an earlier church. The north arcade
has cylindrical piers of less diameter*^ and half-round
responds, all with circular moulded capitals and
bases,'" and the arches are also of two chamfered
orders. There is a 14th-century piscina with muti-
lated bowl in the south-east corner of the north aisle,
and this aisle retains its 14th-century east and west
windows, each of two trefoiled lights with a quatre-
foil in the head, and the west window of the south
aisle is of the same period and style. The other win-
dows of the aisles are four-centred 15th-century
insertions of three cinquefoiled lights, and the clear-
story has two square-headed two-light windows on
each side. The moulded north
doorway is contemporary with
the wall, but the south door-
way is of 15th century date.
The nave roof has four
moulded principals, one of
which bears the initials and
date ' I.B. 1676.' The chancel
roof is modern.
The Chambre chantry chapel
is 14 ft. 6 in. long by 10 ft. 6 in.
wide and is open to the chan-
cel by a 15th-century arch of
two moulded orders on at-
tached shafts, and to the aisle
by a narrower arch of the
same type, the shafts having
moulded capitals. In the east
capital of the arch to the
chancel and the north capital
of the aisle arch are shields of
arms, the former the arms of William Chambre, and
there is a third below a bracket in the east wall. The
chapel stands in front of the south aisle and is lighted
by a four-light east window with Perpendicular tracery
and by two three-light windows of the same type on
the south side. Below the
westernmost window is an ex-
ternal doorway with rectang-
ular hood, and in the usual
position an elaborate traceried
piscina recess with battle-
mented cresting and circular
bowl. The late 14th-century
vestry retains two original
windows and its west wall is
weathered back so as to clear
the older chancel window.
The tower is of four un-
equal stages and has a moulded
plinth and buttresses covering the angles, on
which animal figures are carved on the strings at
each stage. The moulded west doorway is deeply
recessed, with crocketcd ogee hood set within a
rectangular frame, with quatrcfoilcd circles in the
spandrels. Over the doorway is a traceried window of
three cinquefoiled liglits, with a small niche above,
C II A M a R E . Ciilei a
cbeveron bettveen three
cintjfoili 9r.
*• The corbel may have been ihapcd
from a former reipond,
*" 'I'lic piers arc 17 in. diam. Those of
the *ou(h ;nc.i(Jc arc 21 in.
166
*' There arc no i^uare pliiuhi.
Aldwinkle All Saints' Church from rut South fast
HUXLOE HUNDRED
both with crocketed ogee hoods. The three lower
stages on the north side and the two lower on the
south are blank, the third having a small traceried
opening. The lofty upper stage is almost wholly
occupied by double square-headed, traceried bell-
chamber windows of two lights, with wide middle
muUions and traceried transoms, above which is
a band of quatrefoils and battlcmentcd parapets
with tall crocketed angle pinnacles. The tower arch
is of three chamfered orders, the innermost on half-
round responds with moulded capitals and bases. The
vice is in the south-west angle.
The late 13th-century font consists of an octagonal
bowl moulded on the under edge, on a pedestal com-
posed of eight keel-shaped shafts with moulded bases.
The font was sold in 1655, but was set up again in
1662, when it was rclcaded.^*
In the chancel is the brass of William Aldwincle
(d. 1463), who is represented in a long garment with
his feet resting on a dog. The inscription reads, ' Hie
jacet Williu Aldewyncle armig. qui obiit xxviii die
augusti A° Dni. Millmo cccclxiii cujus ale ppicietur
Deus.' On the waU of the north aisle is a brass com-
memorating John Pykering, physician (d. 1659)
with a rhyming inscription written by himself in
1652.
There are Jacobean turned altar rails, and over the
chancel arch the names of the churchwardens of 1814
on either side of the space formerly occupied by the
Royal Arms.
Bridges records a ' portrait of St. Catharine with her
wheel ' in the lower window of the south aisle,'" but
this is lost.
There were formerly five bells^" in the tower, but in
1903 four were melted down to provide metal for a
new ring at Aldwinkle St. Peter. The remaining
bell (tenor) was found to be so badly cracked that it
was recast.
The plate consists of a cup and cover paten of
c. 1570, and two patens of 1861, one inscribed ' Ald-
wincle All Saints Church 1864. R. Roberts, rector.'
There is also a pewter flagon/^
The registers begin in 1653. The first volume con-
tains entries of baptisms to 1726, of marriages to
1725, and of burials to 1679.
There is a lych gate in memory of Fanny Satter-
field Hodgson (d. 191 7).
The advowson presumably passed
ADVOWSON with the manor of the Aldwinkle
family until in 1 315 it was conveyed
by Richard son of Henry Aldwinkle to Robert de
Holand.^' It then went with the manor of Ald-
winkle St. Peter (q.v.) until the forfeiture by Francis
Lord Lovel in 1487. Sir Ralph Butler, possibly as
trustee, presented in 1 47 1. The advowson later
passed to the Somerset family, Sir Charles Somerset
afterwards Earl of Worcester presenting in 1503 and
ALDWINKLE
ALL SAINTS
15 II.*' It was conveyed by William Earl of Worcester
in 1553 to Gilbert Pickering,'''' apparently on behalf of
his son Boniface, who died seised of it in 1586.^* Boni-
face left it to his younger son John,'* and it was prob-
ably he who in 1597 presented his kinsman Henry
Pickering, father of Mary, mother of John Dryden, the
poet, who was born at the rectory in 1631." Early in
the 17th century the advowson was acquired by Simon
Lcnton,wiio conveyed it with the manor (q.v.) in 161 3
to the Fleetwoods.** Elizabcth,vvidow of William Fleet-
wood who sold the manor, presented in 1 72 1,** and
died in 1722. Her eldest son Miles had a son and
heir William** who died without issue in 1747. Eliza-
beth, one of his three sisters and coheirs, wife of John
Kimpton, obtained her sister's shares in the advowson.
John Kimpton desired to sell the advowson, but fail-
ing, presented Thomas Haweis, a Methodist, who was
assistant chaplain at the Lock Hospital. Later, being
offered £1,000 for the advowson, Kimpton tried to
eject Haweis. Eventually Lady Huntingdon bought
the advowson and Haweis remained incumbent until
his death in 1820.*"" The advowson was afterwards
purchased by Lord Lilford, who held it with Ald-
winkle St. Peter, to which parish it was united in 1 879.**
The present Lord Lilford is patron of the united
parishes.
The chantry of William Chambre in the church of
All Saints was founded by William Chambre in 1488 to
pray for William and his wife Elizabeth and her
former husband William Aldwinkle (d. 1463). '^ It was
endowed with the manors of Armston and Denford and
lands there and in Aldwinkle and Benefield.*' It was
founded to provide a priest who taught six poor
children of the town of Aldwinkle. Its lotal value in
1549 was £10 15J. 6d. out of which 26s. 8<^. was
annually distributed in alms to two poor bedesmen in
the almshouses in Aldwinkle.** On 18 December,
1546 William Dudley and others were ordered to take
possession of the chantry** and nine days later the
endowment, including the Chantry House in Ald-
winkle, was granted to Sir Edward Montagu.** The
property of the chantry seems to have reverted to
the Crown and was granted out again in 1570 to
Thomas second Lord Wentworth in tail. At the
request of Lord Wentworth's son William, it was re-
granted in 1585 to Theophilus Adams and Thomas
Butler.*' In 1619 William Montagu, younger son
of Edward the original grantee, died seised of a
messuage and 20 acres of wood called Priestes
Coppice, probably part of the endowment. His heir
was his nephew Edward afterwards second Lord
Montagu.**
The chantry house, which had been the priest's
dwelling and the school house, seems to have been held
with the manor. Bridges (1724) states that its ruins
' which were lately pulled down stood, in Mr. Spincke's
yard, where human bones were dug up.' *'
•• Assoc. Arch. Sac. Rep. vii, 244.
*' Bridges, Hist, oj Nortbants. ii, 210.
'» North, Ch. Bells of Northanis. 178,
where the inscriptions are given. The
treble and tenor were dated 1720, the
second 1830, the third was by Thomas
Eayre 1724, and the fourth by Thomas
Norris, 1637.
" Markham, Cb. Plate of Nortianls. 6.
'« Feet of F. bdle. 175, file 65, no. 193.
"Bridges, H:sl. Nortbanls. ii, 210;
G.E.C. Compute Peerage, viii, 20.
'* Rccov. R. Northants. Trin. 7 Edw.
VI, ro. 516.
" Bridges, op cit. ii, 3S4 ; Feet of F.
Div. Cos. Mich, i Mary ; Chan. Inq. p.m
209 (33). " Ibid. " D.N.B. ■
" Recov. R. Northants. East. 11 Jas. I,
ro. 122; Feet of F. Northants. East. II
Jas. I ; Mich. 14 Jas. I.
" Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.).
•» Northants N. and Q. (New Ser.), i,
119; Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 20
Geo. II.
167
'"^n.N.B. XXV, 186; XXXV, 288;
jV. and Q. (New Ser.), vi, 73.
" London Gaz. 5 Dec. 1879, no. 7201.
" Cal. Pat. 1485-94, p. 253.
"Ibid. 311.
•• Chant. Certif. 36, no. 9.
" L. &■ P. Hen. VIII, vol. xxi, pt. ii,
g- 64S (39).
" Ibid. (52).
" Pat. R. 27 Eliz. pt. 4. m. 31.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii) ddxxxv, 51.
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 21 1.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
By indenture dated 19 Dec 1765,
CHARITIES in performance of the intention of
Henry Wotton, as expressed by his
will, a yearly rentcharge of £1 lis. was granted to
trustees. The rentcharge is paid out of land belong-
ing to Lord Lilford and is applied by the overseers in
the distribution of 120 twopenny loaves and 12s. in
money to between 50 and 60 recipients.
Poor's Allotment. On an inclosure of the lands at
Aldwinile land was set out for the use of the poor. The
property consists of 24 a. I r. 30 p. of land let to Lord
Lilford for ^^30 yearly, which sum is distributed by
the rector and churchwardens in coal to about 60
recipients.
The Church Land was set out on the inclosure of the
lands in AldwinJde and consists of 3 r. 1 8 p. let to Lord
Lilford at £1 15/. yearly, which is applied by the
churchwardens towards church repairs.
Richard Thorpe, rector of Barby, who died in 167 1,
left by his will a quarter of a yardland in Barby Field
for teaching poor children at Aldwinkle. The rent is
paid to the managers of Aldwinkle Church School.
ALDWINKLE ST. PETER
The description of the parish of Aldwinkle St. Peter
is covered by that of Aldwinkle All Saints (q.v.) to
which it was united in 1879. T^^ villages adjoin
Aldwinkle St. Peter, which is the larger, lying to the
north of Aldwinkle All Saints. The present rectory
house was built in 1867. The old rectory, which
■ Steps
desfroyei
I Late I6I2J Century
Plan of LyvEDtN New Building
appears to have been a timber-framed house, was pulled
down at the end of the 1 8th century by the first Lord
Lilford.i
At Lyvcdcn, where the land rises some 150 ft. from
the River Nenc and the country is well wooded, are
the two interesting houscsknown as the Old Building
and the New Building. The former stands on the site
of an old manor house of the Treshams of Rushton.
Of rcccnl years it has been occupied as a farmhouse,
and has become encumbered with farm buildings.
Only a few fragments of the old house which it replaced
are preserved, some built into the house itself, others
into an adjacent cottage. It had an imposing Jacobean
' Attoc. Arch. Soc. Rtp. vii, 251.
staircase and some handsome fireplaces of the same
period, but the staircase has now been sold. It appears
to have extended farther to the east than at present,
and there was a forecourt entered through a fine arch-
way, which, however, was taken down about the middle
of last century and re-erected at the neighbouring
house of Farming Woods by
the then owner, Lord Lyveden.
Towards the end of the l6th
century. Sir Thomas Tresham of
Rushton, of whom Thomas Fuller
in his Worthies says ' hard to say
whether greater his delight or
skill in building, though more
forward in beginning than fortu-
nate in finishing his fabricks,'
devised a fine lay-out at the back
of the Old Building, extending
some way up the hill. Remains
of it still exist, particularly a
long raised terrace with a mount
at each end. Adjoining this is a
' canal,' part of a series which
inclosed a ' water orchard.' Be-
yond these again, and doubtless
once connected to them in the
design, lies the curious New
Building, one of three notable
buildings erected by Sir Thomas,
the others being the Triangular
Lodge at Rushton and the Market
House at Rothwell. Sir Thomas
was a Roman Catholic and a mys-
tic. As the former he suffered
long terms of imprisonment,
which incidentally gave him
leisure as a mystic to elaborate
many curious conceits, some of which he embodied
in the Triangular Lodge and this New Building. The
first is based on the number 3 and illustrates tiie
doctrine of the Trinity. The New Building symbolises
the I'assion, and its design is influenced by the
numbers 3, 5, 7, 9. The plan is an equal-armed
cross, each arm being a square with a bay window
at the end. The basement windows and shields
are grouped in threes ; the bay windows have five
sides of 5 ft. long ; the lower cornice carries seven
emblems of the Passion placed in rotation ; in the
upper cornice were appropriate legends, parts of
which remain, and they were so selected that those on
each arm had eighty-one letters (nine times nine).
The building wa« intended for a small house or ' lodge,'
168
Aldwinkle St. PtTER : Lvveden Ntw Huilding
Ai.inviNKLE Sr. I'liek : Lyveden Old IU ii.uinc;
HUXLOE HUNDRED
and it contained the usual rooms of the period, hall,
parlour, great chamber, bedrooms, kitchen, pantry,
larder, staircase, etc. The arch that connects the
parlour with its bay window bears the arms of Sir
Thomas and his wife, Muriel Throckmorton. The
Tkuham. Party lallirt-
vfise argent and labU
with six trefoils vert.
THROCrMORTON. OultS
a cbeveron argent charged
tvith three gemell-bars
sable.
building is of stone and is admirably built, much of
the detail being as sharp as when new. It was pur-
chased, together with the water orchard and the long
terrace, in 1922 by the National Trust for Places of
Historic Interest or Natural Beauty. The walls were
then protected against the weather, but no restoration
was attempted. It has been a ruin from the time
when it was built, for Sir Thomas died before it was
completed, and immediately afterwards the house and
manor (q.v.) were forfeited, as his son Francis became
implicated in the Gunpowder Plot. The Lyveden
estate appears to have been rescued from the general
disaster, for the Old Building was rebuilt by another
son, Sir Lewis. His arms, impaling those of his
Spanish wife, were in a panel in the principal gable,
but were removed along with the archway and in-
corporated with it when it was rebuilt at Farming
Woods.*
In the time of Edward the Confessor 3
MANORS hides in ALDWINKLE or HOLLANDS
MANOR were held by Peterborough
Abbey for the sustenance of the monks, but by 1086
Ferron held them by the king's command, against the
will of the abbot. ^ According to the survey of c. 11 25
3J hides were held of the abbey by Ascelin de Water-
ville.* Ascelin's son Hugh before 1 155 made a
composition with Abbot Martin whereby he should
hold the manor of Aldwinkle at a rent of 60/. ^d.,^
From this date the manor followed the descent of
Thorpe Achurch (q.v.) to the end of the 15th century.'
In 1487, while Margaret Countess of Richmond held
it for life,' the reversion of Hollands Manor, in tail
male, was granted to John Risley, knt., the king's
servant. The grant included woodland called Bare-
thanke and meadow in Brantsey and Swillyngholt
in Aldwinkle.* The Countess of Richmond died in
1509 and John Risley, to whom the manor then passed,
died in 1513 leaving no son.' The manor thus reverted
ALDWINKLE
ST. PETER
to the king, who in this year granted it in fee to
Sir William Compton." He died seised of Hollands
Manor in 1528 having a son and heir Peter, then six
years old, who died in 1539 ^'^^ ^^^^ succeeded by his
son Henry, afterwards Lord Compton.*^ In 1570
Henry Compton, at this time a knight, had licence to
C o M p T 0 N. Sahlt a
leopard or between three
helms argent.
Cecil. Barry of ten
argent and azure six
scutcheons sable each
charged with a lion
argent.
alienate Aldwinkle or Holland Manor, to Thomas
Cecil,*2 who became Earl of Exeter in 1605. The
manor of Aldwinkle St. Peter afterwards followed the
descent of the Earldom of Exeter until in 1773 it was
conveyed by Henry Brownlowe, ninth Earl, to Thomas
Powys of Lilford,^^ created Baron Lilford in 1797."
It subsequently passed with this barony.
One large virgate of land in Aldwinkle was stated
in the 12th century survey of Northamptonshire
to be held by Geoffrey de Glinton of the fee of
Gloucester belonging to the Barton.** In 1285 this
overlordship of the earls of Gloucester in Aldwinkle
was disputed by the abbot of Peterborough, who
alleged that the earl's bailifTs had usurped one-eighth
part of the vill of Aldwinkle, which had been wont to
answer to the abbot's bailiffs for all that pertained to
the king's dues, in the same way as all other vills
within the abbot's liberty. Writs of summons were
accordingly issued against the earl," but his right
seems to have been maintained, and henceforth it
passed with the overlordship of Denford (q.v.). Joan,
the widow of the Earl of Gloucester and the king's
daughter, was found in 1306-7 to have received yearly
rents from Aldwinkle,*' and two Icets in Aldwinkle
were held, as parcel of one-third of the earldom of
Gloucester and in right of his late wife Margaret, by
Ralph, Earl of Stafford, who died in 1372,** and by
succeeding earls of Stafford.** In 1404, Humphrey,
Earl of Stafford, being a minor and a royal ward, the
king, after assigning a dower to the late earl's widow,
granted, from the two-thirds of the possessions of the
earldom still in his hands, a leet of the township of
Aldwinkle to his consort. Queen Joan, to hold during
the young earl's minority.'"* At the view of frank-
pledge held at Denford in 1549, Sir Thomas Tresham,
* For a full Recount of Lyveden BuUd-
ingi, lee J. A. Gotch, The Buildings of
Sir Thomas Tresham. A number of
references to them will also be found in
Hist. USS. Com. Rep. (Rushton MSS.)
* y.C.H.Northants.i, 3166.
« Ibid. 365*.
* Cott. MS. Cleop. C ii, fol. 236.
* Feud. Aids, iv. 13; Feet of F. 29
Edw. I, case 175, file 58, no. 398; ii
Edw. II, case 176, file 69, no. 368 ; Cal.
Pat. 1307-13, p. loa; 1313-17, pp. 72,
184; 1317-21, p. 43'; '3Z'-4, 88. >'3i
1327-30, p. 455; Cal. Chart, 1300-26,
p. 242 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Edw. Ill
(ist nos.), 19; I Hen. VI (51).
' Cal. Pat. 1485-94, p. 155.
• Ibid. p. 210.
• Chan. Inq. p.m. ptf. 25, no. 63 ; ptf.
79, nos. 174, 191.
">/.. 6- P. Hen. VIII, 1509-13, no.
1662 (58), no. 2772(51).
" Complete Peerage (New Ed.), iii,
390.
'" Pat. R. 12 Eliz. pt. 7, m.i ; pt. 9, m.
34 ; Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 13 Eliz.
'• Close R. 13 Geo. Ill, pt. 19, no. 7.
'« G.E.C. Complete Peerage, y, 80.
» V.C.H. Northants. i, 365*.
'^ Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 113-
119.
" Cal. Inq. iv, p. 316.
" Ch. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (ist nos.),
62.
'• Ibid. 10 Ric. II, no. 38 ; 4 Hen. IV
no. 41. •" Cal. Pat. 1401-5, p. 349.
169
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Thomas Webster of Barnewell and Richard Webster
were presented from Aldwinkle for failure to give
suit at the court and were amerced.^* Bridges states
that two houses in the parish of Aldwinkle St. Peter
and two in that of Aldwinkle All Saints were held of
the honour of Gloucester in 1723.**
LYVEDEN was partly in the Bassingbourne fee
and partly in the Angevin fee of Churchfield, both of
which fees were held of the abbot of Peterborough.*'
It was divided into Upper and Lower or Great and
Little Lyveden. The Angevin portion followed the
descent of Churchfield in Oundle (q.v.) and the
Bassingbourne that of Benefield (q.v.) until the end
of the 14th century when in 1372 we find that Walter
de Frampton of Melcombe Regis and Margaret, his
wife, conveyed the manors of Churchfield and Lyveden
with lands, wood and rent in Pottereslyveden, Over-
ly\'eden, Lyveden and Lyveden Daundelyn to Richard
de Spredlyngton and Roger de Wymondham, clerks.**
Possibly the grantees were acting on behalf of Sir
John Holt, justice of the Court of Common Pleas,
who was in possession of the manors about this time.
He was impeached in the Parliament of 1388 and
forfeited his lands. *s His property, however, was
restored to his son John Holt in 1390, except the
manor of L}'veden which had been granted to Sir
John Devereux, knt., and others to whom it was
confirmed in 1392 in payment of debts due from the
Crown.** Devereux apparently sold to Sir William
FitzWalter, who, with his wife, Joan, conveyed the
manor in 1401 to Nicholas de Pye.*' Eventually it
went back to John Holt, the son, who died seised of
rents from the manors of Lyveden and Churchfield
in 1419, leaving a son Hugh aged 30 years.** Hugh
died in 1420, his heir being his brother Richard Holt,
clerk, aged 37 years.*' As early as 1458 the Treshams
of Rushton were holding the manor. A messuage
and lands in Aldwinkle were held by Sir Thomas
Tresham, controller of the king's household, who was
beheaded as a Lancastrian in ^ei." This property
was granted in 1462 to John Donne, usher of the
king's chambers," who in 1465 conveyed it to
George, Bishop of Exeter, and other feoffees.** In
1480 it was given by the Crown to William Sayer and
Margaret his wife for their lives,'' and in 1484 it was
granted in tail male to Edward Brampton, esquire of
the king's body.** After the accession of Henry VII,
however, the manor of Lyveden was restored to John
son of Thomas Tresham,** who did homage to the
abbot in 1499.** He was succeeded by his son.
Sir Thomas Tresham," who with Isabel Tresham,
widow, probably his mother, settled the manor in
1536.** In 1540 Sir Thomas Tresham had licence
to impark 120 acres of wood, 250 acres of pasture and
50 acres of meadow in Lyveden commonly called
Lyveden Park ; the lands abutted on the east on
Bareshank Wood and on Whynney Green in Pilton ;
on the west on the wood called Sherylappe and
Sudborough Green ; on the south on Sir Thomas's
own wood called Ladywood and Bradyhawe, and on
the north on the highway called Harlowe Ryding."
Leland wrote ' he cauUith himself communely
Tresham of Lyveden a 2 miles from Undale in
Northamptonshire where yet standithe Parte of aun-
cient Manor Place and godely Medows about it, and
there hath Tresham a 300 Markes by the yere.'*"
Sir Thomas died in 1547 leaving a son, Thomas, then
a minor, who became prior of the order of St. John of
Jerusalem in England.*^ He died in 1558 seised of
the manor of Ly\'eden and was succeeded by his
grandson Thomas, son of John Tresham, then under
age,** who was later imprisoned several times for
recusancy. The New Building at Lweden was built
by him and he laid out the gardens there.*' He
settled the manor on his wife Muriel and his son
Francis, in 1584, and died in 1605. His son Francis,
then aged 38 years,** was implicated in the Gunpowder
Plot and died in the Tower within a year of his father,
his estates having been forfeited. He left no son, but
in 1634, after the deaths of Muriel, widow of Thomas,
and Anne, widow of Francis, who had interests in
the manors under settlements, the manor of Lyveden
and other estates were granted to Sir George Simeon
and another,** who in that year conveyed them to
Francis' brother. Sir Lewis Tresham, and his wife
Mary.** Lewis, who had been created a baronet in
161 1,*' died at Lyveden seised of the manor in 1639
leaving a son and heir William.** The manor had
been settled in 1634 °" ^^^ marriage of William with
Frances, daughter of Sir John Gage of Firle in Sussex,
on William and his heirs male, with remainder to
Toby Tresham and his sons Edward and Thomas. A
month before his death, however, Lewis Tresham
revoked this settlement for another on William and
his heirs. Sir William Tresham died without issue
in 1643 leaving as his heirs his sister Mary, the wife
of Thomas Lord Brudenell, and the sons of his sisters
Elizabeth, Frances, and Katherine, namely, Henry
Lord Morley and Mounteaglc, William Lord Stourton,
and Sir John Webbe, bart.** None of these heirs,
however, appears to have had any interest in Ly\eden,
the limitations under the various settlements being
to heirs male. Frances, widow of Sir William
Tresham, who in 1649 married George Gage, held
the manor after Sir William's death and it was
sequestered for her and her husband's recusancy.*"
»> Court Rolli, Gen. Scr. ptf. 194, no.
49-
•• Hill. Norlbanti. 11, 210.
" Pytchlcy, Bk. of Fiei (Northanti.
Rec. Soc), 73, 120.
" Feet of F. Northanti. 46 Edw. Ill,
DO. 644.
» Rolli 0/ Pari. (Rec. Com.), iii, 240A,
2410.
•• lUrl. Ch. 49 D. 54.
" Feet of F. Northanti. bdlc. 179, file
90, no. 14.
»• Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 lien. V, file 43 ;
Eicheq. Inq. p m. bdle. 114, no. 7.
••Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Hen. V, file 52;
the Northanti portion ii illrRible.
•• Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. IV, no. 65 ;
Varioui Coll. iii [Hist. MSS. Com. Hep.),
pp. vi, vii.
•' Fine R. 5 Edw. IV ; Cal. Pal. 1461-7,
p. III.
"Ibid. 431.
" Ibid. 1476-85, 201.
»« Ibid. 416.
" Varioui Coll. iii {Hist. MSS. Com.
Rfp.)y pp. vi, vii.
•• Hriclgd, Hill, oj Northanls. ii, 373.
•' Ibid. 69.
•" Feet of F. Div. Coi. Mil. 27 Hen.
VIII.
•• L. &■ P. lien, yill, 1540, no. 831
(5°)-
♦" Lrland, llinerary (ed. 1744), vi, 32.
" Dridgci, op. cit. ii, 374.
170
*• Ch.in. Inq. p.m. bdle. 124, no. 144.
♦• Varioui Coll. iii (Hut. MSS. Com.
Rep.), pp. xlix to Ivii.
** Wardi and Liv. Inq. p.m. bdle. 294,
no. 104.
" Pat. R. 9 Chai. I, pt. 5, no. 24 ;
Recov. R. Eait. 26 Elii. ro. 56.
«• Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 9 Cha». I.
*' G.E.C. Baronetage, i, 56.
" VVardiand Liv. Inq. p.m. ii,bdle. 66,
no. 81.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. II Miic. 524(5);
537 (>8). 539 (s). 54° (75)-
»» Cat. Com. Jor Comp. 2624, 3049 ;
S. R. Gardiner, Hist. 0/ Commonwealth, iii,
197.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
Major-General Butler, the Parliamentary commander,
about 1655 attempted to demolish Lvveden House
built by Sir Thomas Trcsham, but his efforts were in
vain, and he was only able to take the timber, which
he carried to Oundle to be used for the house there
afterwards belonging to Major Creed."
At the Restoration the manors of Lyveden and
Churchfield, with Lyveden House, were said to be in
the Crown, either by attainder or escheat, and in 1660
were granted to Edward Earl of Sandwich.'* The
property, however, was claimed by Maurice, son of
Thomas Tresham, and in l66l he and the Earl of
Sandwich were together enfeoffed of it.'* In 1667
Maurice Tresham was said to be desirous of selling
his part in order to pay his debts," and he and the carl
probably conveyed to George Mathcw and Mary his
wife, Sir William Smith, bart., of Redcliffe (co. Bucks)
and Thomas Rymer, in whose possession the manors
are found in 1668.'* It is possible these grantees
were acting on behalf of William Harbord, of Grafton,
the politician and diplomat, who held the manor and
died in 1691 at Belgrade on his way to undertake the
duties of ambassador at Constantinople. He left by
his first wife Mary, daughter of Dr. Arthur Ducks,
three daughters, namely, Margaret, the wife of
Robert King, second Lord Kingston in the Peerage of
Ireland, who died without issue ; Mary, the wife of
Sir Edward Ayscough, who left two daughters,
Letitia, the wife of Lt. Andrew Thornhaugh, and
Isabel, the wife of Matthew Bourcherett ; and Grace,
the wife of Thomas Hatcher, who died without issue ;
and by his second wife Catherine Russell, he left a
daughter Letitia.wife of Sir Rowland Winn of Nostell.'*
The Harbord co-heirs were dealing with the manor
during the first half of the 1 8th century. The largest
share became acquired by the Winns.*'' Rowland
Winn and his wife died at Bath in 1722, and their son
Rowland^ in 1732 conveyed his share to Anne
Fitzpatrick of Farming Woods, widow of Richard
Fitzpatrick, Lord Gowran.'* She died in 1744 and
her son, John Fitzpatrick, created Earl of Upper
Ossory in 1751, seems to have purchased the rest of
the manors of Lyveden and Churchfield.** He died
in 1758, and his son John in 1769 settled both manors."
John the second Earl died in 1818, leaving two
unmarried daughters, Gertrude and Anne, known as
the ladies Fitzpatrick of Farming Woods. Both these
ladies died in 1841, when the manors passed to an
iUegitimate daughter of the second earl, Emma Mary.
In 1823 she married Robert Smith, who took the name
of Vernon. He held various ministerial offices and
was created Lord Lyveden in 1859. On his death in
1873 he was succeeded by his eldest son Fitzpatrick
ALDWINKLE
ST. PETER
Henry Vernon, who died without issue in 1900.
The manor then went to his nephew Courtenay Robert
Percy, son of the Rev. Courtenay John Vernon, some-
time rector of Grafton Underwood.'*
FitzPatrick. Sabli a
ialtire argent and a chtef
azure tuitb three fieurt
de Us or tbrrein.
Argent fretty
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 373.
" Pat. R. 12 Chai. II, pt. 24, m. 12.
»• Cal.S.P.Dom. 16601, 351, 367 ; Feet
of F. Northant!. Trin. 1 3 Chas. II.
»« Cat. S.P. Dom. 1667, 88.
" G.E.C. Baronetage, iii, 191 ; D.N.B.
•* Pedigree in Baker, Hut. of Noribants.
ii, 172.
•' Recov. R. Mich. 8 WiU. Ill, ro. 22 ;
Trin. 2 Anne, ro. 148, 361 ; Mich. 5 Geo.
I, ro. 243; Trin. 9 Geo. Ill, ro. 453;
Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 8 WUl. III.
" Bridget, op. cit. ii, 374 ; Recov. R.
Mich. I Anne, ro. 298 ; Mich. 2 Anne,
ro. 361.
" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 5
Gto. II.
There were several large freeholders in the manors
of Lyveden and Churchfield. Matefrei the Dispenser
held lands in Churchfield in 1202 and in the time of
Abbot Robert de Lindsey (l2l4-22).«* In 1233-4
Richard, son of Simon de Lyveden, conveyed a
messuage to his brother Roger.'* William Aldwyncle
in 1428 held a fourth part of a knight's fee in Church-
field, formerly held by Henry de Wyville,*' and Sir
John Holond had a free tenement in Oundle formerly
held by William de Lyvenden and previously by Sir
Reginald de Wadville (Waterville ?).»« The Lyveden
family held considerable property in the manors.*'
The church of ST. PETER consists
CHURCH of chancel 31 ft. by 17 ft. 9 in., with
north vestry, clearstoried nave of three
bays 36 ft. 9 in. by 14 ft. 8 in., north and south aisles,
south porch, and west tower 8 ft. by 7 ft. 6 in.,
surmounted by a spire. The north aisle is 8 ft. 6 in.
wide, the south aisle 10 ft. 6 in., the width across nave
and aisles being 38 ft. 8 in. All these measurements
are internal.
The tower is faced with ashlar, but the rest of the
building is of rubble, with lead covered roofs. There
are plain parapets to the chancel, north aisle and north
side of the clearstory, but elsewhere the parapets are
battlemented. The porch has a plain gable and
overhanging stone slated roof.
The earliest work in the present building is the
west respond and the western cylindrical pier of the
north arcade, which are c. 1180-90. At this time a
north aisle was added to an earlier 12th century aisle-
less building, the nave of which was probably about
the same length as at present. The pier has a moulded
base and rudely carved capital with square abacus,
and the respond a square impost, but no other work
de Liveden and Fithio Palmer hi» father,
Thomas son of Fethio, Andrew son of
Wilham de Liveden (no. 55) ; Walter eon
of the late Richard Ic Palmer of Great
Liveden, Walter son of the late Robert le
Palmer of Liveden and Amabilia his wife,
Robert de Wivile of Liveden, Robert ion
of William de Liveden and Richard son
of William de Liveden (no. 56) ; Humfrey
de Bassingburne, knt., Richard son of
William son of Luke de Liveden, Ralph le
Maine, William son of Andrew de Live-
den (no. 57) ; Richard son of Thomas le
Paumer of Great Liveden, Andrew son of
William de Liveden, Robert son of
William de Liveden and Richard hit
brother (no. 58).
" Recov. R. Trin. 9 Geo. Ill, ro. 453.
•' Ibid.
•■ G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
"V.C.H. Northant!. i, 366; Pytchley,
Bk. of fees (Northants Rec. Soc), 121.
•« Feet of F. Hen. III. bdle. 172, file 27,
no. 338.
•' Feud. Aids, iv, 448.
" Cott. MS. Nero C vii, fol. 107.
" In tome 13th and 14th century
charter! relating to Great and Little
Liveden among the Buccleucb MSS.
(Boughton House), nos. 53 to 58, there are
references to Richard son of William de
Liveden, Robert le Wyvile and William le
Palmer (no. 53) ; Robert son of William
de Liveden (no. 54) ; Jordan son of Fithio
171
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
of this period survives. The next enlargement was
about the middle of the 13th century, when a south aisle
was added, and later in the century, c. 1290, the north
aisle was rebuilt, the south arcade reconstructed with
the old materials, and the aisle widened. The chancel
was rebuilt in its present form about 1370-75, and the
porch, clearstory, and tower and spire are approxi-
mately of the same date. The vestry is contemporary
with the chancel. The chancel was restored in i860,
and the rest of the building in 1876, when the north
aisle was rebuilt. With the exception of the tower
and the west end of the nave, all the walls are plastered
internally.
The chancel has an east window of five cinquefoiled
lights with vertical tracery, perhaps a later insertion,
and is lighted on the south side by three 14th-century
windows each of two trefoiled lights with traceried
heads differing in design, and one at the west end of
the north wall. The sill of the eastern window is
lowered internally so as to form two graded sedilia,
on either side of which in the window jambs are
ogee-headed niches. The moulded piscina is also ogee-
headed and has a fluted bowl. The west window has
a transom at the level of the other window sills,
which cuts off the lower portion of both lights, one
of which** is rebated as a low side window. There is a
scroll string all round the chancel externally at siU
level. In the north wall is a rectangular aumbry,
and a moulded doorway to the vestry,'* and west of
this a restored wall recess. In the east wall, north
of the altar, is an image bracket. The chancel arch
is of two chamfered orders with hoodmould on each
side, the inner order resting on carved and moulded
corbels. The oak chancel screen was erected in
1921.
The north arcade, as rebuilt in the late 1 3th century,
has three pointed arches of two chamfered orders with
hoodmoulds, resting at the west end on the square
respond and early pier already described. The eastern
pier (c. 129c) consists of four attached shafts with
moulded capital and base ; at the east end the inner
order of the arch is carried on a moulded and carved
corbel. The hoods have stops over the piers. The
cylindrical piers of the south arcade are c. 1240, but
differ in detail. Both have circular moulded bases,
and the capital of the western pier is also circular and
has nail-head ornament. The eastern pier is of
slightly less diameter and has an octagonal moulded
capital with pellet ornament, and the base stands on
an octagonal plinth. The responds are similar to
those of the north arcade and all four piers stand on
high square plinths, perhaps parts of the walling of
the original church. The arches, as on the north, are
of two chamfered orders.
In the south aisle are three late 13th-century
windows of two lights, that in the west wall witli
forked mullion and low transom, the bottom lights
of which are rebated inside though the sill is over
5 ft. above the floor. The window west of the porch
is of two trefoiled lights with a cuspcd circle in the
head, and the window at the east end of the aisle is
of the same type, with an image bracket on either side.
Next to it in the south wall is a two-light window with
14th-century tracery ; its sill is lowered inside to
form a seat, at the back of which below the window is
a piscina with trefoiled ogee-head and projecting
moulded basin carried on a small shaft. The middle
window of the aisle is a 15th-century insertion of three
lights. The south doorway is modern.
At the east end of the north aisle is a pillar piscina
with moulded basin on three clustered and banded
shafts with chamfered base and square plinth ; the
recess has a plain ogee head and the bowl is fluted.
More to the north is a 13th-century piscina with
trefoil headed recess and bowl in the thickness of the
wall. There are two image-brackets in the east wall,
the window of which is modern ; but with one exception
the other windows of the aisle, and the north doorway,
are the old ones re-used. The clearstory windows,
four on each side, are square-headed and of two tre-
foiled lights.
The tower is of three stages with moulded plinth,
diagonal buttresses and a projecting vice in the south-
east angle. The two lower stages are blank on the
north and south, but on the west there is an ogee-
headed window of two lights, the mullion and tracery
of which are new, and in the middle stage a circular
moulded window with modern ' roue tournante '
tracery. The bell-chamber windows are of two
trefoiled lights with quatrefoil in the head, and the
cornice above, from which the graceful broach spire
rises, is carved with grotesque heads and birds clinging
head downwards. The broaches have small octagonal
pinnacles, and there are three sets of spire lights on
the cardinal faces. The tower arch is of three
chamfered orders on moulded and carved corbels.
The doorway to the vice has a shaped and moulded
head.
The late 13th-century font is similar to that at
All Saints' church, with octagonal bowl and shafted
stem.
The pulpit and other fittings are modern.
In the chancel is an elaborate mural monument to
Margaret Davenant (d. 1613) with shield of arms, and
on the entablature the date of erection ' Anno Domini
1616.'
There is some interesting mediaeval glass. In the
western window south of the chancel are figures of
St. George and St. Christopher beneath canopies,
c. 1290, and with a border of alternate white hounds
and yellow hares ; in the top lights of the east window
are figures of two priests, one representing Roger
Travers, rector, and the other William de Luffwyck,
the builder of the chancel, who was rector 1335-80 :
both are mentioned by name in inscriptions. The
tower window has modern glass commemorating
Thomas Fuller.
There are five bells by Taylor and Co. of Lough-
borough, 1903. A former ring of three (the tenor
dated 1585, and the second by Thomas Eayre of
Kettering, 1724)'" was then recast and a new treble
and tenor added.
The plate consists of a cup, paten, and flagon of
1855 ; there is also a plated paten."
•• The wcit light : the lower hook on
the weitern jamb itill rcmalni, and the
two bolt hold on the mullion cin itill be
traced. The height of the lill above the
floor ii z ft. 8 in.
nil, 379.
Asi. Arch Soc. Reps.
•• The vcitry originally wai of two
itoriei \ it hat a lingle upper window on
the north tide.
" North, Cb. Bells of Norlhanls. 178,
where the inscriptions on the old bells are
given,
" Markham, Ch. Hate of Nortbanls. 6.
172
It
:^t
tit '■ ^i
■'< B I" ,
ii ^
AtDWiNkLE St. Peter's Church FROi\i the South-west
Aluwinki.k St. Peter's Church; Tnt Inikkiok, looking North-east
HUXLOE HUNDRED
The first volume of registers contains entries of
baptisms from 156J to 1653, but there are no marriages
or burials, the book having been mutilated.'* The
second volume contains baptisms 1653-1711, mar-
riages 1654-1706, and burials 1653-1678. At the end
of the second volume are sixteen pages of briefs.
There was a priest among the
ADl'OiySON tenants of the Abbey of Peterborough
in Aldwinkle between 1 125 and 1 128''
and two parts of the tithes were confirmed to the abbot
by Pope Eugenius III.''' The church was held with
the manor in the middle of the 12th century \t'hen
Hugh de Waterville held them, and they continued to
be so held. In 1372 it was found by inquisition that
Oliver de Lufwik and Richard, parson of the church of
Stanwigg, might assign tenements in Aldwinkle, held
of Sir Robert de Holand, to William de Lufwik, parson
BARNWELL
ALL SAINTS
of St. Peter's church, to provide a priest to celebrate
daily at the high altar.'* At the time of the Dissolution,
the tithes, the rectory house, the land and glebe were
worth /;i I 16;. 8(/. a year, whence loj. 7(f. was paid to
the archdeacon of Northampton for procurations and
synodals.'* In 1570, at an episcopal visitation, it was
presented against the rector of Aldwinkle St. Peter
that ' the parsonage is in decay. And that he helpeth
not the poore nor tcacheth anie children.'"
In 1602 Thomas Fuller became rector, whose son,
born at Aldwinkle in 1608, was Thomas Fuller, author
of the ' Worthies."* Joseph Drury, the distinguished
headmaster of Harrow School from 1785 to 1805, held
the living for some years on condition he should resign
it to the son of Lord Lilford, the patron, but he never
lived at Aldwinkle."
There are no separate charities for this parish.""
BARNWELL ALL SAINTS
Bernewelle (xi cent.) ; Bernwella (xii cent.) ;
Barnewell, Kyngesbernewelle (xiv cent.) ; King's
Barnwell (xvi cent.) ; Barnwell .All Saints (xvii cent.).
The parish of Barnwell All Saints, which since 1821
has been united with the sister parish of Barnwell
St. Andrew ' covers 1,781 acres on a subsoil of Corn-
brash, surrounding Great Oolite in the north and
centre and Oxford Clay in the south-east. The land
is mostly under grass, but hay, wheat, barley and
beans are grown. There are over 200 acres of wood-
land. The average height above the ordnance
datum is 200 ft. In the west of the parish the main
road from Thrapston to Oundle leads northwards,
separating it from Lilford cum Wigsthorpe. The
village is watered by a stream flowing, also northwards,
into and through the neighbouring village of Barnwell
St. Andrew, which passes in its course the site of the
manor house, tenanted in the early years of the 1 8th
century by Mrs. Elizabeth Creed, philanthropist
and artist, a Montagu by birth,^ and the remains of
the church of All Saints. A little distance to the
east are Friar's Close Farm, a moat, and Foot Hill
Spinney. There is a considerable amount of wood-
land in the south-east of Barnwell All Saints and
different parts of this are named Rough Wold,
Common Wold, Barnwell Wold, Gunwell's Wold,
Middle Coppice, and New Park Close. Earlier
place names are Newdegardun, which belonged to the
chief manor in the 14th century,' Tuthill and Break-
hill situated east of the village, and Kilsey meadow,
all three known in the 1 8th century.
Barnwell All Saints is said to have been inclosed in
1683.* In 192 1 its population numbered 79 persons.
Barnwell All Saints belonged to the
MANORS king in 1086, but in the following
century was alienated to Robert de
Ferrers.* Robert and his successors in the parish
held of the Crown in chief until l6o8.'
From the first Robert de Ferrers, created Earl of
Derby in 1 138, SPENSER or KINGS BARN If ELL
descended to his son of the same name' who gave
10 librates of his fee here to his daughter Isold on her
marriage with Stephen de Beauchamp. Isold was a
widow in 1 1 85, with a son aged four and five daughters."
Her son, another Stephen de Beauchamp, was dead
without issue in 1216" and his lands in Barnwell went
to John, son of his sister Isold de Suburie, (Sud-
borough), by her husband Richard de Suburie, and
Maud, another sister, widow of William de Wascough*"
who conveyed their shares in
the manor to Sir Philip
Basset.** This conveyance was
confirmed by John de Suburie
and Ralph son of Maud de
Wascough, in 1248. '^
Sir Philip Basset gave the
manor of Barnwell All Saints
to Hugh le Despenser in free
marriage with his daughter
Aline or Aveline,*' who be-
came the wife of Hugh Bigod,
Earl of Norfolk** after her
first husband's death at the
battle of Evesham.** She
died in 1 28 1 and the manor descended to her son
and heir Hugh le Despenser** afterwards Earl of
Despenser. Argent
quartered tvitb gules
fretty or with a baston
sable over all.
"The book consisted originally of 65
parchment leaves, of which only 14 re-
main.
'• Cbron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 166.
'• Sparke, Hist. Angl. Script. (Hugo
Candidus), 83.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (znd
nos.) 35.
'• Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv. 291.
" Sorthants. N. &■ Q. (New Ser.), ii, 176.
"Ibid. 173.
" Diet. Nat. Biog.
"> See Aldwinkle All Saints.
* Vardon, Index to Local Personal and
frivau Acts. In 134; < croft in Barnwell
next the well which is called ' Barnewell *
is referred to (Bucdeuch Coll. 148 H 78).
• D.N.B.
* Chan. Inq. p.m. 49 Edw. Ill, file
251, no. 29.
' Bridges, Hist. Noribanis. ii, 213-14.
' y.C.H. Nortbanls. i, 307a, 359-61,
jC^b.
• Feud. Aids, iv, 13 ; Pat. R. 25 Edw. I,
pt, ii(ii7), m. 7 ; 16 Edw. II, pt. i
(157), m. 10; II Edw. Ill, pt. ii (190),
m. 29 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. ; 27 Edw. Ill,
file 121, no. 12 ; 2 Hen. V, file 8, no. 27 ;
6 Hen. VI, file 35, no. 58 j (Ser. ii) cccv.
129.
' Complete Peerage (New Ed.) iv, 190.
« Rot. de Dom. (Pipe R. Soc), 20.
» Close R. (2 Hen. Ill (19), m. l8d.
'*• Dugdale, Baronage^ i, 252.
" Anct. D. A. 5033, 5069.
" Anct. D. A. 5027 ; Feet of F.
Northants. case 173, file 36, no. 569.
'• Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. I, file 27,
no. 8.
'• Cal. of Inq, p.m. Edw. I, vol. ii,
no. 389.
" Complete Peerage (New Ed.), iv, 261.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. I, file 27,
no. 8.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Winchester." In 1284 two-thirds of the manor was
held by Hugh and the remaining third by John de
Beaumont, on whom Godfrey de Beaumont and his
wife Cecily, two years before, had settled lands, the
inheritance of Cecily in Barnwell.'*
Hugh leased the manor in 1297*' and before 1316
granted it for life to Walter de Langton, Bishop of
Coventry and Lichfield, who died seised of the manor
called Spenser in Barnwell.-"
In 1326, the Earl and his son were executed and
their lands forfeited.-'
After the death of Giles de Wachesham, another
life owner,2- the king in 1337 granted the manor to
his yeoman, John de Ravensholme.^' Later in the
same year Hugh le Despenser, the earl's grandson,
renounced his right in the manor in John's favour.'*
John, in 1344, made a settlement of the manor in his
wife Margaret and his heirs.-* He died in 1353,^'
Margaret and their son Thomas, then aged four,
surviving him.-' After Thomas's death without issue
in 1370, the manor was held by his mother until her
death in 1375.'* The heirs of John de Ravensholme
were then found to be the descendants of Margery
and Cicely, the sisters of his father William de Ravens-
holme, namely, John Dyn, grandson of Margery,
and John Dounome, son of Cicely .^^ John Dyn had
already conveyed the reversion of his moiety to Sir
Richard Stury,^ to whom John Dounome soon after
Margaret's death, sold his moiety.^' In 1376 Sir
Richard received a life grant from the Crown of a
weekly cartload of firewood for his hearth at Barnwell
such as Sir John de Ravensholme had enjoyed before
him.'- In 1385 he settled the manor in tailmale,'^' and
on the death of his widow Alice in 141 3 Barnwell All
Saints descended to Robert Stury, the third but first
surviving contingent heir.** Sir Robert settled it on
his son Richard, to whom Catherine Stury, his widow
and Richard's mother, released her right.** In 1436
Joan Pavy, widow, formerly relict of John Kent,
also renounced her right.'* In 1438 Richard Stury,
then knight, sold Barnwell All Saints to John
Sturdys, citizen and goldsmith of London." A
considerable part of the manor seems also to have
belonged to John Laurence of Wyboldston, Bedford-
shire, and Elizabeth, wife of John Estwyk, who,
together with John Estwyk, sold their rights here to
John Sturdys in 1441.** John Sturdys sold the manor
in 1447 to Thomas Thorpe'' in whose possession it
was in 1451.'"' Thomas, one of the Barons of the
Exchequer under Henry VI, was taken prisoner at the
Baale of Northampton and executed after a long
imprisonment.'" His lands in Northamptonshire
were confiscated by Edward IV in I46l,''2 but were re-
stored to his son Roger on the accession of Henry VII.''*
Roger was lord of the manor of Barnwell All Saints
in 1496 when, with his wife Constance, he sold it to
David Phelip''* afterwards knight of the body to
Henry VII.« \\'ithin a year of his death in 1506**
Sir David sold the reversion to George Kirkham, who
sued his executors in Chancery for their refusal to
complete the bargain.'" George, however, was seised
of the manor of Barnwell All Saints when he died in
1528. He had settled it on his son Robert and his
wife Sybil.'** In 1548 Sir Robert Kirkham and Sybil,
together with John Banastre, whom Sir Robert had
enfeoffed of some part of his estates,** sold the manor
to Sir Edward Montagu*" and within the next three
years George Middleton and George Lynne, sons and
heirs respectively of Margaret
Middleton and Agnes Lynne,
the daughters of George Kirk-
ham, confirmed his title.*'
From that time to the present
day Barnwell All Saints has
descended with Barnwell St.
Andrew (q.v.)
Another so-called manor in
this parish was in the posses-
sion of William Dudley of
Clapton in 1521 and descended
with the manor of Clapton
(q.v.) until 1666, when it was
mortgaged by Sir William
Dudley*^ and acquired six years later by Edward
Lord Montagu.**
An estate in this parish called Barnes between
15 1 8 and 1529 appears to be the so-called manor of
Barnes sold to Sir Edward Montagu in 1548 by
John Banastre who seems to have acquired it from
Sir Robert Kirkham.*''
The manor of Barnwell All Saints had two dove-
cotes in the 14th century,** twelve in 1548.** A
fishery is mentioned amongst its appurtenances in
1 28 1.*' There were a capital messuage and a wind-
MoNTAGU. Quarterly :
I (S- 4 Argent a Jesse in-
dented of three points and
a border sable ; 26-3,
Or an eagle vert.
*' Complete Peerage (New Ed.), iv, 261;.
" Feet of F. Northants. caie 174, file
51, no. 12. Cecily was probably a
Ferreri by birth [Bridges, op. cit. i,
485]-
" Pat. R. 25 Edw. I, pt. 2 (117), m. 17.
•" Feud. Aids, iv, 28 ; Chan. Inq. p.m.
15 Edw. II, file 70, no. 7.
" Complete Peerage (New Ed.), iv, 266,
6^-70.
" Pat. R. 16 Edw. II, pt. I (157), m. 10,
" Ibid. II Edw. Ill, pt. 2 C"9o)i n>- 29.
•• Close R. II Edw. Ill, pt. 2 (159),
m. i^d.
"Pat. R. i« Edw. Ill, pt. 2 (212),
m. 26; Feet of F. Northants. case 177,
file 77. no. 287.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 27 Edw. Ill, file 121,
no. 12.
•' Ibid.
"Ibid. 49 Edw. Ill, file 251, pt. 2
(ist nos), no. 29.
•• Close R. 49 Edw. Ill (213), m. 9.
•• Feet of F. North.ints. case 178, file 84,
no. 648 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 49 Edw. Ill,
pt 2. (ist nos,), file 251, no. 29.
" Feet of F. Northants. case 178, file
85, no. 689.
" Cal. Pat. 1377-81, p. 314.
" Pat. R. 6 Ric. II, pt. i (313), m. 27 ;
8 Ric. II, pt. ii (319), m. 31.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 2 Hen. V, file 8,
no. 27.
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 214.
" Close R. 14 Men. VI (286), m. 9.
•' Ibid. if. Men. VI (288), m. 10.
■" Feet of F. Northants. case 179, file
95, no. 104.
•* Bridges, loc. cit.
" Close R. 32 Hen. VI (304), m. 22J.
♦' Pari. R. (Rec. Com.) vi, pp. 294-5.
" Pat. I Edw. IV, pt. 4 (495), m. 81/.
*• Pari K. (Rcc. Com.) vi, pp. 294-5.
'* Feet o( F. Northants. case 179, file 97,
no. 39.
" Cal. Pat. 1494-1509, p. 383.
" Ibid. pp. 490, 514-15.
•' Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 328, no. 56.
•74
" Chancery Warrants, file 608, no. 161 j
L. and P. Hen. I' III, iv, g. 4993 (4);
Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), file 692, no. 13.
" Com. Pleas D. Enr. East. 2 Edw. VI,
m. 7.
'» Ibid. Trin. 2 Edw. VI, m. 91/; Feet of
F. Northants. Trin. 2 Edw. VI.
" Com. Pleas 1). Enr. Mich. 3 Edw. VI,
m. 91/1 nil. 3 and 4 Edw. VI, m. qd ;
Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 3 and 4
Edw. VI.
•' Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 18
Chas. II.
*' Bridges, op. cit. ii, 214.
'• Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 510, nos. 12,
13 ; Com. Pleas \). Knr. East. 2 Edw. VI,
m. 7.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. q Edw. I, file 27,
no. 8; 15 Edw. II, file 70, no. 7; 27
Edw. Ill, file 121, no. 12.
" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 2
Edw. VI.
*' Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. I, file 27,
no. 8.
Barnwell All Saints: Old Church, taken down in 1S23
{From a ivater-colovr drawing)
HUXLOE HUNDRED
mill here in 1322.** The windmill was still standing
about thirty years Liter but only the site of the manor
remained.*' John de Ravensholme received a grant
of a weekly market on Friday and a fair every year on
St. Luke's day, in ijig.*"
The church of ALL SAINTS consisted
CHURCH of chancel, nave, north and south aisles,
and tower with broach spire on the
south side forming a porch. The east end of the
south aisle was widened out to form the Montagu
chapel, the south wall of which was in line with the
tower. All the roofs were leaded. The whole of
the building, with the exception of the chancel, was
pulled down about 1825. From the evidence pre-
served*' it seems to have been of 1 3th and 14th century
date, the tower and spire being of the latter period,
and very good examples of a well-known local type.
The chancel was left standing as the burial place of
the Montagus, Earls of Sandwich, and contains
many mural monuments to members of the family.
It was restored in 1894, but the vault had been closed
ten years earlier.
The chancel now stands isolated in the middle of a
field. It is built of rubble and has plain parapets
and a low-pitched roof. Internally it measures 29 ft.
in length by 1 7 ft. 6 in. in width, and is of 1 3th-century
date. There are no buttresses, but some portion of
the walling north and south of the chancel arch has
been left standing, the arch itself, which is of two
chamfered orders on half-round responds with octa-
gonal moulded capitals, being blocked by a modern
wall in which a doorway is inserted. At the west end
of the north wall is a small lancet low-side window,
now blocked and covered on the inside, and there is a
blocked square-headed two-light window of 14th-
century date at the west end of the south wall. The
five-light east window is a 15th-century insertion, as
are also a two-light transomcd window on the north
and one of three lights on the south side. Internally
the walls are plastered, but the east end was panelled
in oak in the early part of the 1 8th century by the
Duke of Montagu,'^ the panelling covering the lower
part of the window.
The font is ancient and consists of a plain octagonal-
to-square bowl standing on four short pillars.
The most interesting of the monuments is that to
Henry Montagu, infant son of Sir Sidney Montagu,
who was drowned 28 .4pril 1625 at the age of 3. He
is figured under a curious tapering alabaster canopy
and is described as ' a wittie and hopeful child tender
and deare in ye sight of his parents and much lamented
BARNWELL
ALL SAINTS
by his friends. "** There are also memorials to Dame
Lettice Montagu (d. 1611), Thomas Dillingham,
rector (d. 1704), Mrs. Dorothy Creed (d. 1714),
Rev. Matthew Hunt (d. 1 729), William Dillingham,
gent. (d. 1753), and Ann, wife of William Ord (d.
1808). In the floor are armorial slabs, with brass
inscriptions, to the 4th and 5th Earls of Sandwich
(1792, 1814), and a brass plate on the wall records the
names of all the Montagus buried here from 1622 to
l862.«'
High up on the south wall are two iron brackets,
one designed to support a flag staff, and the other a
long spike to hold a helmet. The helmet is hammered
out of sheet iron and has a wooden crest of Montagu
— a gritlin's head couped and collared with a crown,
between two expanded wings ;'•'' the flagstaff is lost,
and a sword is now suspended from its bracket.
The four bells were sold when the church was taken
down ; no record of them appears to have been
kept.**
The registers are now at Barnwell St. Andrew ;
before 1812 they are as follows : (i) baptisms and
burials 1695-1812, marriages 1705-1753 ; (ii) mar-
riages 1 754-1 81 2. A large number of briefs is recorded
1707-43.
The church of ALL SAINTS,
ADFOfVSON which has been under this dedica-
tion since 1260,*' belonged to the
king's fee until Henry I gave it, it is said, about the
year 1 120,** to the Priory of St. Neots, upon Michael
its rector, son and successor of the .\rchdeacon Nigel,
rector under William II and Henry I, taking the habit
of a monk.*' The priory was confirmed in its pos-
session by Alexander Bishop of Lincoln in 1 140, and
by Hugh Bishop of Lincoln about seventy years
later.'" A pension of ^3 a year, payable from this
church to the Prior of St. Neots, was disputed by
Robert the parson in 1232" but was still due in 1291.'^
During the 14th century the church was several times
in the king's gift, the temporalities of the alien Priory
of St. Neots being in his hands on account of the war
with France" and a grant of the advowson was
made by Edward III to John de Ravensholme in
1345.'" In 1496 Roger Thorpe included the church
in his sale of the manor.'* A later lord of the manor,
George Kirkham, was seised of the advowson of
Barnwell All Saints at his death in 1528,'* holding
it by grant of next presentation from the prior,
who afterwards made similar grants to John Lord
Mordaunt and Sir Edward Montagu." Lord Mor-
daunt presented to the church in 1554'* and the ad-
•' Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. II, file 70,
no. 7.
" Ibid. 27 Edw. in, file 121, no. 12.
•0 Chart. R. 23 Edw. Ill (136), m. i.
•* There is a drawing (undated) of the
church from the louth-east by Edward
Blore in Baker'i Htttory of Nortbanti
(at end of vol.). Bridget gives the length
of nave and chancel as 77 ft. and width
across the aisles 36 ft. 6 in. : Hist, oj
Nortbanti. ii, 214. In 1321 an indulgence
for the fabric of the church of Barnwell
All Saints was granted (Line Epis. Reg.
Memo. Burghersh, f. 22).
•" Bridges, Htit. of Nortbanti. ii, 214.
*• The monument was erected in August
1626. It is fully described by Bridges,
op. cit. ii, 216. In a cupboard in the
panelling on the south tide of the altar is
preserved a parchment recording the life
and death of this infant. Another
panel opens to disclose a piscina.
" They include the 2nd Earl of Sand-
wich (d. 1688), and his four successors, the
3rd (d. 1729), 4th (d. 1792), 5th (d. 1814),
and 6th (d. 18 18) Earls. The burial vault
is below the chancel, the floor of which
is paved with black and white marble.
" The wings are gone. For full de-
scription see C. A. Markham in An. Ar^b.
Soc. Reports, xxxvi, 78.
" North, Cb. Bells of Northants. 190.
Not only the bells, but the material of the
fabric and interior fittings were sold at
auction, and the registers were even offered,
but being claimed by the churchwardens
were saved : MS. Notes by Thos. H.
Wright (1909).
•' Rot. Ric. Gravtsend (Cant, and York
Soc), pt. ii, 100.
" Gorham, Hist. St. Neots, ii, p.
cxiviii.
•• Ibid. Cott. MSS. Faust. A 4, fol. 46.
'" Gorham, op. cit. ii, pp. xii, xiii ;
Cott. MSS. Faust. A 4, fol. 41, 41^.
" Gorham, op. cit. ii, p. xv.
''^ Pope Nicb. Tax (Rec. Com.) 39*.
"Ca/. Pat. 1338-4°, P- 3'8i 1354-58.
PP- 249>273i 1385-89, P- 3°'-
'« Pat. R. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. I (213), m. 22.
" Feet of F. Northants. case 179,
file 97, no. 39.
'• Chan. Warr. file 608, no. 161 ;
Excheq. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dcxcii, no. 13.
" Gorham, op. cit. ii, Ixxii ; Bridges,
op. cit. ii, 215.
'• Ibid.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
vowson remained in his family until 1 600, when his
grandson, Lewis Lord Mordaunt, with his son and heir
Henry Mordaunt, sold it to Edward Haselrigg," by
whom the reversion was granted to Robert Syers of
Isham, convicted of recusancy in 1603. Five years
later Edward Haselrigg obtained a grant of the ad-
vowson for forty-one years on payment of a fine to
Robert Syers.®" The presentation of 1617, however,
was made by Sir Edward Montagu,*^ and although
the Crown reasserted its rights in 1620 by granting
the church to Sir Henry Spiller and others,'^ it seems
to have followed the descent of the manor until 1821"
when it was united to the church of Barnwell St.
Andrew.**
This parish participates in the
CHARITIES benefits of Parson Latham's Hos-
pital, an account of which is given
under the parish of Barnwell St. Andrew.
A sum of 6s. Sd. yearly, known as the Montagu
Dole, is due on St. Thomas' Day for the poor of
Barnwell All Saints out of Lord Montagu's Estate.
The origin of this charity is unknown.
BARTON SEAGRAVE
Bertone xi cent.
The parish of Barton Seagrave contains 1,826 acres
of land, and lies between 200 ft. and just over 300 ft.
above the ordnance datum. The subsoil is Great and
Inferior Oolite and Upper Lias. The river Ise forms
part of the western boundary and another stream part
of the eastern boundary. The village is on the Ket-
tering and Thrapston road about two miles south-east
of Kettering. The church lies on the south side of
the road and south-west of it is the site of Barton Sea-
grave Castle built in the early part of the 14th cen-
tury by Nicholas Segrave the younger,' and is appa-
rently last mentioned in 1433,^ after which it probably
became a ruin. It was surrounded by a moat, and
another moat lies to the north of the castle site. Barton
Seagrave Hall, lately the property of Mr. George
Edward Stringer, but now of the Wicksteed Village
Trust, is on the north side of the road. It appears to
have been rebuilt in the first half of the 1 8th century,
the date 1725 being on the lead rain-water heads. The
house is of two stories, constructed throughout of
limestone and roofed with CoUyweston slates. The
main front faces south and has projecting end-wings
■with plain gables and a middle gabled porch of two
stories with classic doorway. A wing at the east end
containing a number of small rooms appears to be older
than the rest of the building.^
The Kettering and Huntingdon branch of the Lon-
don Midland and Scottish Railway crosses the parish,
the nearest station being at Kettering.
The manor of BARTON, which was
MANORS afterwards divided into the manors of
BARTON HANRED and BARTON
SEAGRAVE, was held in the time of Edward the
Confessor by Burred.'' He and his parents are said
to have granted it to the Abbey of Peterborough,^ but
it was not amongst the abbey lands in the Domesday
Book (1086), but appears under those of Geoffrey
Bishop of Coutances, to whom it and other lands of
Burred and his son Eadwine were granted.* It
was assessed at 4J hides in 1086,' and passed to
Robert de Mowbray, who forfeited it to William
Rufus. Rufus probably gave them to Robert Fitz-
Hamon, whose daughter married Robert first Earl of
Gloucester.* They thus passed to the Gloucester Fee
in Northamptonshire.* In 1086 the sub-tenant of
the manor was named Robert,'" but early in the 12th
century he had been succeeded by Geoffrey the cham-
berlain, probably Geoffrey de Clinton, who held 5
hides of land in Barton.'' In 1284, the immediate
mesne tenant of the Earl of Gloucester was Joan
Chambernon,"' who was living in 1 314," but her
successors are not named, nor does it appear what
right she had in the manor.
In the second half of the 12th century Barton was
held in mesne lordship by Richard de Hanred,'*
who gave his name to the manor of BARTON HAN-
RED. His son William succeeded as a minor, but was
of age in 1201,'^ and he held the manor partly as a
mesne lord but had also 2i virgates of land in de-
mesne." He died before 1209" and was succeeded
by his son Richard ;'* the latter's heir was holding
Barton in 1243;'® he was probably another Richard de
Hanred, who was living in 1266.^" His successor,
William Hanred,^' was hanged for felony in 1295, and
his possessions escheated to the king for a year and a
day, and the mesne lordship disappeared.^^
The first tenant of the manor in demesne whose
name is recorded was William Clifford, who was
hanged for felony in the latter part of the 12th cen-
tury .^^ It escheated to his lord, Richard de Hanred,
and while William de Hanred was a minor his guar-
dian granted it to Thomas de Buketon, who married
Agatha sister of William Cliff^ord.-'' It passed to her
son John de Buketon before 1 201, when William de
Hanred tried to recover it.^^ An agreement was made
'• Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 42 and
43 Ellz.
'" Pat. R. 6 Ja». I. pt. ii (1761), no. 17.
" Init. Bk.. (P.R.O.).
•• Pit. R. 18 Jai. I, pt. 21 (2136), no. 5.
m. 7.
•• Init. Bki. (P.R.O.).
•• Vardon, Index U ImcoI Pen. and Priv.
Acu, 1798-1839.
' Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. II, no. 37 ;
D.N.B.
' Chan. Inq. p.m. 11 lien. VI, no. 43.
■ • C. A. Matkham in Norlhanli N. and
Q. (N.S.), T, 146-9.
' V.C.H. Norlbanlt. i, p. 311.
' Sparkc, Hiu. An^l. Script. (Var.), ii,
43. • V.C.H. Noribanis, i, 287.
' Ibid. 311a. • Ibid. 287-8.
' Ibid. 389A ; Ch.in. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw.
II, no. 68 ; 46 Edw. Ill (i«t nos.), no. 62 ;
10 Ric. II, no. 437 ; 4 Hen. IV, no. 41.
'" V.C.H. Norlhanti. i, p. 311.
" Ibid. 389*.
" Feud Aids, iv, 12.
'• Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II no. 68 j
Col. Close, 1313-18, p. 138.
'« Abkrev. Plac. (Rcc. Com.), p. 34.
" Ibid.
'• Feet of F. Northanti. 4 John, caic
171, file 9, no. 145.
176
'^ Booh of Fees, \, 19,
■» Red Bk. of E.ych. (Roll. Ser.), 533 ;
Feet of F. Northants. 2 Hen. Ill, case 172,
file 14, no. 3 ; 4 Hen. HI, case 172, file 16,
no. 64 ; Bk. of Fees, i, 326.
'• Ibid, ii, 937; Egcrton MS. (B.M.),
J73.1. '"'• '42<'-
•" Cal. Pal. 1258-66, p. 592.
" Feud. Aids,{v, 12 ; Cat. Close, 1272-79,
p. 4i;i-2.
"Ibid. 1288-96, p. 478; 1330-33,
p. 70-1.
" Ahhrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), p. 34.
•« Ibid.
»• Ibid.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
r.ARTON SEAGRAVE
HuMPHRtY of Barton.
GuUs a iTOSsUt quarter
pureed argent with three
scallops sable upon each
arm.
by which John licld the manor of William, who, how-
ever, reserved 2j virgatcs of land in demesne.'-' In
1218 another agreement was made between Simon de
Hal and Arnold de Buketon, the heirs of John dc
Buketon and Richard de Hanred." Before 1278 it
had passed to William de Lisle.^* In 1284 the tenant
was Roger de Lisle,'-' who obtained certain land which
William de Hanrcd held when it escheated to the
king in 1295.^ John de Lisle made a settlement of
the manor in 1334 on himself for life with remainder
to his grandson John, son of
his daughter Amice and her
husband Simon de Lanshull,'"
but before 1368 it had passed
to Richard Cloun,'- who was
still the tenant in 1402.^ It
passed before 1446 to Henry
Garstang,** probably in right
of his wife Elizabeth, who
afterwards married Peter
Humphrey,^ probably a mem-
ber of a family long settled at
Barton." The Humphreys
held Barton Hanred manor till
the middle of the 17th century.
They also obtained Barton
Segrave manor (q.v.),and from this time no distinction
seems to have been made between the two manors,
which were later known as the manor of Barton Sea-
grave or Hanred. Elizabeth's son John" was suc-
ceeded in direct succession by William,^ Richard,^
William,^" Richard,** and Nathaniel Humphrey.''-
Nathaniel left two daughters, Anne, the wife of Ed-
ward Tudor, and Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas
Brudenell.''* The manor apparently got into the hands
of trustees or mortgagees at this time.''* Sir John
Robinson, Lord Mayor of London, and Anne his wife
were dealing with it in 1659,*^ and others a little
later.** John Bridges states that his father John Bridges
bought the manor about 1665 from Mr. Humphrey,
Brien Cockayne (Lord Cullen), Lord Mayor of Lon-
don, and others,*' and the historian of Northampton-
shire was born there in 1666.** John Bridges died in
1725. He had been successively appointed Solicitor
of the Customs in 1695, Commissioner of the Customs
in 171 1, and Cashier of Excise in 1715.*' He was a
Fellow of the Royal Society*" and had devoted both his
time and money to collecting material for a history of
Northamptonshire. His collections were left to his
brother William, but owing to various misfortunes
they were not published till I79l,and then appeared
in a form which does not do justice to the great amount
of research and mass of accurate information which
he had collected. The manors of Barton seem to have
been sold and came into the possession of Richard
Tibbits before 1 793.*' He was succeeded by Richard
John Tibbits, whose daughter and heir, M.irv Isabella,
in 1837 married Samuel, tliird
Viscount Hood. She died in
1904 and was succeeded by her
son Francis, fourth Viscount
Hood, who died in 1907 and
was succeeded by his son
Grosvenor Arthur Alexander,
fifth Viscount Hood, the
present owner.*^
At some period in the 13th
century part of Barton was
granted to Nicholas de Segrave
the elder,*' possibly when the
manor was in the king's hands
after William de Hanred's felony.** It was known as
the castle and manor of Barton Segrave, and contained
some 12 virgates of land, as well as meadow, pasture,
and 20 acres of wood, besides rents.** Nicholas granted
it to his younger son Nicholas de Segrave, who died
seised in 1322, when it passed to his daughter and heir
Maud, the wife of Edmund de Bohun.*' It afterwards
reverted to the elder branch of the Segraves*' from
Mood. Azure a fret
argent and a chief or
charged with three cres-
cents sable.
Segrave. Sable three
sheaves argent banded
gules.
Mowbray. Gulrs a Itcn
argent.
whom it passed to the Mowbrays** and was in the pos-
session of John, Duke of Norfolk, in I469.*» Before
1331, a manor had been granted to Simon de Drayton
and his wife Margaret,*" but in 1 336 they and their son
John and his wife Christina quitclaimed it to John,"
" Feet of F. Northantj. 4 John, case
171, file 9, no. 145.
" Ibid. 2 Hen. Ill, case 172, file 14
no. 3 ; ibid. 4 Hen. Ill, case 172, file 16,
no. 64.
•• Cat. Close, 1272-9, p. 451-2.
"Feud. Aids, iv, 12; Chron. Peirob.
(Camden Soc), 109 ; Feet of F. Northanls,
Mich. 13 Edw. I, case 174, file 53, no. 162.
"> Cat. Close, 1288- 1296, p. 478.
" Feet of F. Northants. 8 Edw. Ill,
case 177, file 74, no. 130.
"Ibid. 42 Edw. Ill, case 178, file 84,
no. 609.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Hen. IV, no. 41.
•' Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 24
Hen. VI, case 179, file 95, no. 117.
" Bridges, Wur. o/iVoriian/j. ii, 217-18,
cit. Harve/'s yijil.
" See below.
" Bridges, loc. cit.
'" Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dcUxi, 3.
" Ibid, dccx, 16.
" Pat. 33 Eliz. pt. 6 ; Feet of F.
Northants. Mich. 33 & 34 Eliz. ; Chan.
Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxciv, 100 ; Chan.
Proc. (Ser. ii), bdlc. 273, no. 18.
*' Chan. Inq p.m. (Ser. ii), cccxxvi, 38.
*= Recov. Mich. 18 Jas. I, ro. 90; Feet
of F. Northants. Trin. 21 Jas. I.
" Bridges, loc. cit.
** Chan. Proc. (Ser. ii), bdle. 454, no.
64.
*' Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 1659 ;
G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, iii, 52.
" Recov. Mich, i Jas. II, ro. 59.
" Bridges, op. cit. i, p. v j ii, p. 2l8.
'» D.N.B.
" Bridges, op. cit. i, p. v.
»" Ibid.
" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 33 Geo.
Ill ; ibid. East. 57 Geo. III.
177
'« The Complete Peerage (New Ed.).
VI, 570-1 ; Whellan, Htst. of Northants.
1874, p. 746.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. II,
no. 37.
^* See above.
" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 4 Edw.
Ill, case 176, file 73, no. 77.
'• Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Edw. II, no. 37 ;
Inq. a.q.d. file clxxxiii, no. 13.
" Feet of F. Northants, Hil. 10 Edw.
Ill ; Mich. 18 Edw. Ill ; Chan. Inq. p.m.
27 Edw. in (ist nos.), no. 69.
'« Ibid ; 46 Edw. Ill (ist nos.), no. 38 ;
22 Ric. II, no. !oi ; file 150, no. 71a ;
8 Hen. IV, no. 76 ; 1 1 Hen. VI, no. 43.
'» Feet of F. Uiv. Cos. Hil. 8 Edw. IV.
"• Ibid. Northants. Trin. 4 Edw. Ill,
case 176, file 73, no. 77.
•' Ibid. Hil. 10 Edw. Ill, case 177,
file 74, nos. 145 and 148.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
son of Stephen de Segrave, and in 1 344 John dc Segrave
was apparently holding the manor in demesne.*- In
1493 Henry Vere who succeeded through the Greens
to the Drayton property*^ died seised of property in
Barton,^ which seems to have been sold, before his
daughters and co-heirs came of age. In 1557 Richard
Humphrey, the lord of Barton Hanred manor (q.v.),
died seised of the manor of Barton Seagrave*'' and
from this time the manors were held together.
The Earls of Gloucester held a court-leet and view
of frankpledge for their tenants of Barton, the court
being held within the manor of Barton Seagrave. They
also had the rights of assizes of bread and ale, pillory,
tumbril, infangentliief and outfangcnthief, chattels
of felons and fugitives, waif and strays and the return
and execution of writs, summons and orders of the
king."
The prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem
Scale of Feet
Plan of Barton Seagrave Church
in England held a view of frankpledge for his tenants
of Barton Hanred, at Glapthorn."
Two mills are mentioned in 1086, paying los. a
year."* One mill appears to have been granted to the
Abbey of Sulbv before 1227, but in that year Abbot
Walter granted it to Simon dc Hal in exchange for half
a virgate of land." Another mill was held in 1 285
of William de Hanred,'" by William, son of William
Cranford.
The priory of St. John of Jerusalem held lands in
Barton, some of which probably liad been held by the
Knights Templars,'^ but a messuage and virgate of
land were granted them in 1 292 by William de Barton,
chaplain.''' In 1546, the lands of the Hospitallers
were granted to Giles and George Isham, and were
occupied by Richard Humphrey.'^
The Abbey of Suiby also held lands in Barton, which
after the Dissolution of the Monasteries were granted
with the advowson (q.v.) to Edward Humphreys.'*
The church of ST. BOTOLPH is a
CHURCH building of considerable interest con-
sisting of chancel and nave with massive
axial tower built in the early part of the 12th century,
to which about 1270 a south aisle was added with a
chapel at its cast end, covering the tower. Other work
done before the close of the 13th century and later did
not affect the plan, which remained unaltered until
1878, when the south aisle and chapel were pulled
down and rebuilt on a larger scale, forming a new nave
and chancel. A modern north porch was at the same
time removed and the church completely restored.'"
The original building is of rubble and some herring-
bone work remains. The heightened nave has a plain
parapet with low-pitched leaded roof, but the chancel
is covered with red tiles. The new work is faced with
ashlar and is under a separate tiled
roof. Internally, all the walls are
plastered.
The north and west walls of the
nave, the bulk of the tower, and in
the main the walls of the chancel
are original 12th-century work,
though the chancel has been mucli
altered : a clearstory was added to
the nave c. 1 300 and the tower was
heightened in the middle of the
14th century.
12]^ Century The chancel measures internally
c 1280"! 300 '9 ^'- 9 '"• ^y H ^'- ^ '"• ^"'^ ^^'
I — IMoDFRN *" n^°'^'^i'n three-light east window.
On the north side it retains a 12th
century round-headed window high
in the wall, with moulded outer
arch on shafts with volute capitals,
and in the south wall are two
13th-century lancets. Later in the
century a wall arcade was carried
round the chancel inside, below
the windows, and this remains along the north
and south walls. It consists of seven trefoiled arches
on each side, with moulded bases and capitals alter-
nately moulded and carved with upturned foliage.
The arcading, long hidden, was uncovered and restored
in 1878 and tiiat on the east wall reconstructed. There
is also a return arch on each side at the west end on
either side of the tower opening, that on the south
being pierced to form a squint. The trefoiled pis-
cina, set within the arcading, has a modern drain, and
at the west end of either wall are two rectangular low-
side openings with outer trefoiled heads." The
remains of a panelled tabic tomb, with shields retain-
ing traces of colour, are built into the north wall below
the arcading.
The tower is the full width of the nave and has
flat angle buttresses north and south : it measures
•'I«t of V. Div. Coi. Mich. 18
'° Ibid. 13 Edw. I, ca«c 174, file 54,
tilw. Ill, caic 2S7, lilc 41.
no. 163.
•■ Bridget, op. cit. ii, p. 250.
" Feet of F. Northanli. 37 Hen. Ill,
** Exch. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), dclxiiii, 2.
case 173, file 38, no. 623.
•Mbid. dcci, 16.
" Inquis. a.q.d. file xx, no. 25 ;
" Pltu. df Quo tCarr. (Rtc. Com),
Cal. Pat. 1292-1301, p. 101.
57>-
"Pat. R. 38 lien. VIII, pt. 10;
•' IM. 531 2.
/.. (S- P. lien. I'm, xxi, pt. ii, g. 476
•• KC.-.W. AV/Aanli. i, ^r.,
(66).
••Feci o( F. Norlh.ioti. 11 lien. Ill,
" L. &■ P. lien, rill, ivili, pt. i, g.
ca«c 172, file 10, no. 139.
981 (62).
'* The faculty for altering; and restoring
the church is dated 9 October, 1S77.
The width of the aisle was increased by
about R ft., its present dimensions being
31 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft. 3 in. The new
chancel at its cast end is 22 ft. by 20 ft.
3 in. These measurements are internal.
'• In each case the sill is 4 ft. 9 in.
above the floor and about (t ft. above the
ground outside : An. Anb. Soc. Rrportt^
ixix, 383.
ryS
U
h
u
^ ^y^^w^W^N**^
|i.l *
^^V
y-'ommd'
o
u
,SSi-'
•'rtv;,^"'''^^ ^feSi.'T^-^
T. ^*. to -r
Barton StACRAVt Church : TY.NrpANUM of North Uoorway
HUXLOE HUNDRED
BARTON SEAGRAVE
internally 1 8 ft. 8 in. by 19 ft. 6 in., the grc.iter
dimension being from north to south, .ind the walls
are 3 ft. 10 in. thick. The lower stage is open to the
chancel and nave by semi-circular arches of two orders
facing west," the inner square and the outer with big
edge rolls, billet hood moulds, and jamb shafts with
sculptured capitals. In the chancel arch the capital
of the south shaft is carved with birds and that on the
north with a volute and acanthus. Both shafts of
the western arch have volutes and foliage of a more
advanced type and a cable soffit to the impost. In
the north wall is an inserted pointed doorway and
above it a late 13th-century window of two lights with
forked mullion and modern cusping. Above this
again is an original recessed semi-circular window
with moulded arch and jamb shafts similar to that
in the chancel, but with star ornament on the imposts :
a corresponding window on the south side of the
tower is unmoulded. The later bell-chamber win-
dows are of two trefoiled lights with a quatrcfoil
in the head, and the tower terminates in a restored
15th-century battlemented parapet with angle
pinnacles. The height to the top of the parapet is 55 ft.
The nave measures internally 31 ft. 6 in. by 21 ft. 6 in.
In the north and south walls, at a considerable height
above the floor, are the remains of two blocked
round-headed windows, that on the south side in the
spandrel above the pier of the arcade, the arches of
which were cut through the old wall. The north
doorway has a semicircular arch with roll and hollow
moulding and a hood with cable and sunk star decora-
tion, on angle shafts with high moulded bases and
carved capitals. The tympanum has already been
described.'* The capitals have grotesque heads with
volutes at the join, and that on the east a cable
moulding. The panelled oak door is probably of the
l6th century and retains a ring handle. East of the
doorway is a late 13th-century window of three lights
with intersecting tracery and modern cusping, but
the west window dates only from about 1845." The
clearstory windows, four on each side, are small
trefoiled openings set within curved triangular
labels, similar in type to those at Cranford, and possibly
as late as c. 1310-20.
The late 13th-century nave arcade is of two bays
with pointed arches of two chamfered orders springing
from an octagonal pier and responds with moulded
capitals and bases. The single arch cut through the
south wall of the tower to the former chapel is of the
same period and type, the inner order carried on
moulded corbels supported by heads. There are
remains of a rood-loft stair in the tower wall at the
north-east corner of the chapel,** and a late 13th-
century trefoiled piscina has been re-used in the south
wall of the new south chancel. All the roofs are
modern.
The late 12th-century font has a plain circular bowl
and flat 17th-century cover.
The pulpit is modern, but some 16th-century linen
pattern panelling has been worked up in a prayer desk.
There is also some good late l6th or early 17th century
oak panelling in the screen forming a vestry on the
north side of the tower : from the vestry a circular
wooden staircase gives access to the ringing chamber.
In the chancel is a brass tablet to Jane Floyde
(d. 1616), wife of Hugh Floyde, rector, who is depicted
at a prayer desk attended by five children : below the
tower is a blue slab with indents of four corner shields
and an inscription, but re-used in 1686 for William
Henchman, rector.*' The east end of the former aisle
was the burial place of the Bridges family : the
marble wall monument to John Bridges (d. 1 71 2) and
Elizabeth his wife, is now at the west end of the aisle,
and in the old nave is a monument to his grandson
John, son of William Bridges, who died in 1741 :
both have long Latin inscriptions. There is no
monument to the historian of the county,*^ but in the
floor of the new nave, near the pulpit, is a slab in-
scribed ' Johannes Bridges Armiger, obiit 16 Marti
An. Dom. 1723/4, aetatis suae 57.'
There are five bells, the treble by Taylor and Co.,
of Loughborough 1903, the second by Thomas
Newcombe of Leicester (c. 1562-80) with an imperfect
inscription, and the others of pre-Reformation date
inscribed respectively ' S. Jacobe,' ' Sti Petre o.p.n.,'
and ' S. Johanne.'*^ A clock was presented in 1 891
by Viscountess Hood.
The plate consists of a cup, paten and almsdish of
1832, each inscribed ' Barton Seagrave 1833,' a
flagon of 1868, and a silver christening bowl of 1763
with the arms of the see of Rochester, inscribed
' In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Amen.
Ecclesia de Barton Segrave in agro Northantoniensi.'**
The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i)
baptisms 1609-1810, marriages 1609-1750, burials
1610-1685, (ii) burials 1678-1812, (iii) marriages
1754-1809, (iv) marriages 1811-12. There are church-
wardens' accounts 1 743-1 836, and overseers' and
constables' accounts 1728-1797.
The advowson of the church
ADVOWSON of Barton Seagrave was granted by
Geoffrey de Clinton to the Priory
of Kenilworth, which he founded about 1 1 22.*-' In
the early 13th century Richard de Hanred unsuccess-
fully claimed the advowson.*' The priory held the
advowson at the Dissolution and a yearly pension of
£z was paid to it from the rectory.*'
In 1543, the advowson and pension were granted to
Edward Humphrey, a younger son of Richard
Humphrey, the lord of the manors of Barton Seagrave
and Hanred (q. v.)** William Humphrey, his brother,
held them on a lease at the time of Edward's death and
they seem to have passed into his ownership, as
John Humphrey, an elder brother, predeceased tlicir
father.*' Before 1629, however, they seem to have
been alienated, since Sir John Lambe presented in
" On the ca»t lide the archci have a
■ingle iquare order only.
" y.C.H. Nortbanti. ii, 196. See alio
Kcfter'i Norm. Tympana, fig. 67.
'• Churchfi Archd. Nor' Ion (1849), 150,
where the window ii itated to have been
inserted ' a few yean ago.'
•* Now the new chancel. In iti original
form the chapel wai divided from the aitlc
b^ a wall and arch. The piicina belonged
to the chapel altar.
'' It is Eaid to have been the tombstone
of one of the Seagrave family : Bridges,
//irr. of Northantt. ii, 220.
•' The monumental inscription printed
on p. vi of the Preface to Bridges' Iliiiory
is not in the church.
" North, Cb. Bells of Norlbanli. 190.
'* Marlcham, Cb. Plate of Norlbanli. 29.
" Cat. Cbari. R. iii, 276-7 ; Dugdale,
Mon. Angl. vi, 220-1.
179
" I'eet of F. Northanti. 14 Hen. Ill, case
172, file 23, no. 245 ; Rot. Hug. de Ifillei
(Cant, and York Soc), ii, 157.
" Cal. Pal. 1345-8, p. 292; Dugdale,
Afon. .^ngl. vi, 222.
"« L. &■ P. Hen. Fin, xviii, i, g. 981,
no. 62.
*• Wards and Liv. Inq. p.m. (Set. ii) vi,
41 ; L. S- P. Hen. fill, xi«, ii, g. 527
(48); Feet of F. Northanti. IVIich. 36
Hen. VIH.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
that year**' and Robert Ekins in 1631.'* Jane Ekins
presented in 1686*- and JefFery Barton and John Sawyer
in 1703.'^ The advowson was acquired before 1773
by the Duke and Duchess of Montagu** and the
Duke of Buccleuch is patron of the living at the
present day.
By his will dated in 1760 John
CHARITIES. Ekins gave ^^50 for the poor. In
respect of this charity a sum of
£1 los. is yearly paid out of land now belonging to the
Islip Iron Co. near Thrapston and is distributed by
the churchwardens equally among six poor widows.
BURTON LATIMER
Burtun (xiii cent.) ; Burton I.atymer (xv cent.) ;
Burton Lattimer (xvii cent.).
The parish of Burton Latimer, which was con-
stituted an urban district in 1923, comprises 2,756
acres.' The soil is clay and limestone lying on Upper
Lias, Great Oolite and Cornbrash beds. The land
rises northward and eastward from the river Ise
which forms a part of the western boundary and from
a stream flowing into the Ise on the south, the height
at the rivers being a little below 200 ft. and in the
north-east of the parish about 300 ft. above the
ordnance datum.
The village, which is fairly large, lies on the road
from Higham Ferrers to Kettering, about 4 miles from
the latter place. The church stands in the middle of
the village. The rectory house is a I7th-centurv
Burton Latimer Hall
building with vaulted cellars of that period but was
newly fronted in the style of the time in the 1 8th
century and added to in more recent years. A house
known as the Manor House, wliich lies immediately
to the west of the church, probably stands on the site
of the Plcssey manor house. It is a two-story build-
ing with thatched roof, in a gable of which is a panel
dated 1704 and with the initials, I * M. The house
has been modernised and none of the original windows
remain. The school house is situated to the north-
west of the church and is a rectangular 17th-century
building of Wcldon ragstone measuring internally
44 ft. 4 in. by 16 ft., with a fine oak roof of five bays,
now covered with modern tiles. The front to the
road has four mullioned windows and a good central
doorway, above which is a curved gable breaking the
roof-line and containing a panel inscribed; — this house
WAS BUILT 1622 I THE FRESCHOOLE WAS FOUNDED |
BYTHOMASBURDANKE AND | MARGARET HIS WIFE I587 |
MEMORIA • IVSTI ■ BEKEDICTA. Pro. 10. Over Cach of
the windows is an inscription, as follows: — (i) ' Ex
dono Johannis Michel ' (ii) ' l6 Donum Johannis
Barriffe 22 ' (iii) ' 16 Georgius Plowright me
dedit 22 ' (iv) ' W. Carpes citius quam imitaberis.
N.'^ The larger three-light end windows have the
middle light heightened. The school-house was
renovated and additions made at the back about 1904.
To the north of the village is Burton Latimer Hall,
which was the manor house of the Latimer manor. It
is a picturesque, two-story gabled stone building of
simple but attractive design, erected in
the first half of the 17th century. It
contains a fine oak staircase and some
original oak doorways of unusual char-
acter. Alterations were made in the l8th
century, including one or two new
windows and a wing facing the main
road, and the house was restored and
additions made in 1872. The garden
retains the spacious outline given to it
in the l8th century, and near the house
are stables of the same period and a
rectangular dovecote with end gables and
lantern, all this work being of a plain
character. In the grounds are some
ancient fishponds. A boot and shoe
factory, large flour mills, and quarries
give employment to the inhabitants.
The parish was inclosed by Act of Par-
liament.*
Several of the rectors of the parish
attained a certain degree of eminence or notoriety
beyond its limits. Hugh Ashton, who owed his pre-
ferment to Lady Margaret Beaufort, was, like her, a
generous benefactor of St. John's College, Cambridge.*
Dr. Robert Sibthorpe was a royalist, who made his
reputation by his advocacy of extreme obedience to the
king in an assize sermon preached in 1627.* John
Owen, who succeeded his father in 1608 in the rectory
of Burton Latimer, became Bishop of St. Asaph, and
was chiefly famous for his work as a W'clsh bishop.*
Thomas Grimthorpc is best known for his Life and
H'orki of H'illiam Cotvper, published in 1 835, and
Thomas Barlett for the Memoir of the Life, Character
and Writings of Bishop Butler, published in 1839.''
'» Init. Bki. (P.R.O.).
•' Ibid. ; Feet o( F. NorthanO. E.iie.
16 Chai. I.
•' Init. Dk». (F.R.O.) •• Ibid.
•* Ibid 1773, 1798, 1800.
' Minii. of I Ii alth ('onf. Order, 29 Mjy.
' The fiKnrci and Ictlcrt at the begin-
nings :tn<i rndf of linei are dates and
iniii-ili, r.c, 1622 twice, and W.N.
180
> I'rivitif .1(1, 43 Cieo. III. c. 65.
« ly.s.n.
' Ibi.l.
« Ibid.
' Ibid.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
BURTON LATIMER
In the reign of lulward tlic Confessor,
MANORS Earl Ralph, probably the carl of Here-
ford, held 8J hides of land,' which
constituted, until the first half of the 13th century, the
manor of Burton, and paid the service due from 1}
knights' fees.' In 1086, it was held of the king in
chief by Guy de Reinbuedcurt,'" whose son Richard
was the tenant under Henry I." Richard is said to
have pledged the manor in payment of a gambling debt,
to the King,'- who granted it, to hold at pleasure,
to Alan de Dinant, a Breton who defeated the cliam-
pion of the King of France near Gisors.** This grant,
which was continued to Alan's successors, evidently
caused confusion as to the payment of scutage, and
in 1 173-74 ••" inquiry was ordered as to the fee which
Roland de Dinant held of the King.*'* Margery, the
daughter and heir of Richard de Reinbuedcurt,
married Robert Foliot and their descendants con-
tinued to return Burton amongst their fees.'* Margery,
the granddaughter of Robert Foliot, brought their
rights in the manor to her husband Wischard Ledct,
who answered for the Foliot barony in 1210-12."
In 1215, his lands were seized by King John, and his
Northamptonshire holdings were granted to Hugh
Neville." Ledet, however, recovered Burton, which
escheated to the Crown at his death, about 1221.''
It seems clear, however, that at this time, or a few
years bter, a division of the manor was made between
the heir of Wischard Ledct and the successors of
Alan de Dinant. The former relinquished the over-
lordship of the whole manor and obtained a third
of the township of Burton, which formed a separate
manor, held in chief of the King in demesne as half
a knight's fee." It was known as Jl'LESFORD'S
MJ.\OR-<> or BURTON LJTIMER.-^ Wischard
Ledct's heir was his daughter Christina, the wife first
of Henry de Braybroc" and then of Gerard dc
Furnival.-^ She outlived both her eldest son Wischard,
who took the name of Ledet, and his son Walter, so
that on her death between 1266 and 1270,-* her h^-irs
were Walter's daughters Alice and Christina, the wives
of the brothers William and John Latimer, and Burton
was apparently assigned to Alice.^ In the meantime,
the manor had been subinfeudated. In 1242 it was
held by Henry de Aldwinkle, probably only for life,"'
since it wasgiven, possibly in the lifetime of Christina,"
to her younger son Gerard de Furnival.'-* He gave
it to his elder daughter Christina, the wife of William
Gules a cross
de Aylesford or Eylcsford,'" and it was held of the
Latimers for the rent of i oz. of silk or 121/. a year.*"
The younger Christina, as a widow, apparently granted
it both to Gerard dc Furnival and to John Devereux
and, though an ensuing lawsuit in 1283 was decided in
favour of Furnival,*' Devereux evidently obtained a
further grant of it for life as he died seised in 1316.*^ It
reverted to Christina's son, Gerard de Aylesford** and
passed in direct succession to
lidmund,** John*^ and John de
.Aylesford. The last granted
all his right in the manor in
1369 to his overlord William,
Lord Latimer, the great-
grandson of Alice Ledet.** On
the death of Lord Latimer's
widow in 1389 it passed to
their daughter Elizabeth and
by her marriage to the
Nevilles,*' who held it till
the death of John Neville,
Lord Latimer, in 1577.** It was inherited by
Catherine, the eldest of his four daughters and heirs,
and wife of Henry, Earl of Nortliumberland.** Her
son sold it in 1605 to Francis and George Mulsho,**
from whom it passed to Edward Bacon.'" He died
seised of the manor of Burton Latimer in 1627'- and
was succeeded by his son Thomas, a vigorous opponent
of the levy of ship-money.''* Thomas's son Edmund
inherited it in l642'''' and was living in 1670. Early
in the 1 8th century. Dr. Perkins, who had married
the widow of Edmund or his successor, was lord of the
manor.**
About 1760 the manor was purchased by John
Harpur, on whose death it passed to his cousin
Joseph Harpur, of Chilvers Coton (co. Warwick). His
son, Henry Richard Harpur, was succeeded in 1870 by
his brother, the Rev. Latimer Harpur, who died in
1872. His son and heir, the Rev. Henry Harpur,
died in 1904, and was succeeded by his son, Thomas
Wilfred Harpur, the present owner.'"
The two-thirds of the township of Burton which
in the 13th century were assigned to the successors
of Alan de Dinant became known as the manor of
BURTON by THINGDEm'' or BURTON PLESSl'
or PLACr*'*. Alan, the grantee of Henry I, was
succeeded as tenant at will in the whole of Burton by
Roland de Dinant, who was holding it in 1166 and
• y.C./f. Xorihants. 1, 342A.
• Red Bk. of Ex.b. (R.ill) jcr.), jji-z.
'" y.C.H. S'oribants. i, 342A. '
" Ibid. p. 3S9A.
" B.nkcr, Hist, oj Northants. i, 521.
■> Book oj Fees (P.R.O.), ii, 937.
■« Great Roll of the Pipe (Pipe Roll Soc),
xxi, 53.
" Dugddlc, Baronage, 1, 679 ; Red Bk.
of Exch. (Roll» ler.), 331-2; Pipe Roll
Soc. xviii, 53; Pipe Roll, 13 John, m. 13.
" Wrottcjicy, PeJ. from the Plea R.
SIS J Pipe Roll, 5 John ; Red Bk. of
Ex.b. (Roll tcr.), 173, 532.
" Rot. Litl. Claui. (Rec. Com.), i, 235*.
" Excerpt, e Rot. Fin. i, 80.
*• Book of Fees, i, 499 ; Feud. Atds, iv, 12.
"■ Chan. Inq. p.m. 12 Ric. II, no. 34.
«' And. D. A, 8428.
" Excerpt, e Rot. Fin. i, 80.
" Cat. Inq. p.m. ii, no. 374.
«* Cal. Pat. 1258-66, p. 559 J Cal. Inq.
i, no. 781.
'•'- Ibid. ; Cal. Close, 1279-88, p. 325 ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Edw. Ill (ist nos.),
no. 43.
'• Bk. of Fees, ii, p. 937.
" Cf. Rot. Ric. Gravcsend (Cant, and
York. Soc), p. 105.
" Ibid. ; Assize R. 1256, m. 33 ; Dc
Banco R. 427, m. 203.
«• Ibid.
"" Cal. Inq. p.m. v, no. 569.
" Assize R. 1256, m. 33.
'^ Feud. Aids, IV, 12, 29; Cal. Inq. v,
no. 569.
" Ibid. ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. II,
no. 37.
" Ibid. ; ibid. 5 Edw. Ill (ist nos ), no.
43 ; Cal. Close, 1327-30, p. 414.
>» Ibid.
" Close R. 46 Edw. Ill, m. 28 ; G.E.C.
Complete Peerage.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 12 Ric. II, no. 34.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 20 Ric. II, no. 54;
ibid. 5 Urn. IV, no. 28; Ecct of F.
181
Div. Cos. Hil. 22 Hen. VI ; Chan. Inq.
p.m. 9 & 10 Edw. IV, no. 28 ; Anct. D.
A. 8428 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), clxxviii,
57-
'" Ibid, ccxlviii, 22 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos.
Trin. 21 Eliz. ; Hil. 22 Eliz. ; Trin. 28 Eliz.
" Rccov. R. Hil. 2 Jas. I, ro. 95 ; Feet
of F. Nnrthants. Mich. 2 Jas. I ; Northants
Record Society, i, p. 49(cit. Quarter Sessions
Records).
" Metcalfe, Visit, of Northants. p. 66;
Feet of F. Northants. Trin. i Chas. I.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccccxixv,
115.
" Ibid. ; Cal. S. P. Dom. 1635-36, pp.
J29, 33>. 349-
** Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dxxi, 47 ;
Feet of F. Northants. East. 1654 ; ibid.
East. 21 Chas. II.
*' Bridges, Hist, of Northants. ii, 223.
" Burke's Landed Gentry.
*' Cal. Inq. iv, no. 47.
*' Chan. Inq. p.m 8 Hen. IV, no. 63
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
1 173.'" Before 1 190, it had passed to his nephew
and heir Alan, the son of his sister Emma and Robert
de \'itry.^ He seems to have died shortly and Burton
passed to his mother and Robert de \'itry, but before
1196 it escheated to the King.'^ Burton passed
to Thomas Malemains, the husband of Joan, a grand-
daughter of Emma de \ itry, and one of the daughters
of Eleanor de Vitry by her second husband, Gilbert
de Tellieres.^- Malemains went to Germany in
1209,^3 and apparently during his absence, King
John gave Burton to Fullc de Cantilupe to hold at
will.^^ Malemains on his return joined the king's
party, and recovered the manor of Burton in 1 216,
as part of his wife's inheritance.^ In 1217, it was
again granted to Cantilupe,** but presumably he
obtained other compensation, since on the death of
Thomas Malemains, it was granted during pleasure
in 1219 to his widow Joan.*' She died in 1221, and
the custody of her lands and heir was granted to
William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury and his wife
Ela, her half-sister.** Nicholas Malemains obtained
livery of the manor before 1225** and it was probably
during his life time that the division of the manor of
Burton already mentioned was made. In 1 236,
Nicholas apparently held the whole of the I J knight's
fees.^ Before 1 225, he leased the manor*' and then
forfeited it. In 1228 it was granted to William
Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, on behalf of his brother
Richard Marshall,*- on whose death in 1233, it was
granted, during the king's pleasure, to Gilbert de
Segrave.*^ In 1234, however, Nicholas Malemains
obtained restitution of the manor.** He died before
1240** and his widow apparently only held the
smaller manor for her life.** His heir, presumably
his daughter, was Ela, the granddaughter of Thomas
Malemains and wife of Robert de Plessy.*' On the
death of Nicholas's widow, Beatrice, after 1284,** the
manor was held in direct descent by John, son of
Robert and Ela (d. 1313), Edmund (d. 1327), Nicholas
(d. 1356), and John who was succeeded by his brother
Nicholas Plessy, a minor, who died in 1362.*' It
passed to his sister Joan, the wife of John Hamely.'*
Their son John died without issue, and after the
death of John Hamely in 1399, the reversion of the
manor belonged to Joan's uncle, Peter Plessy," who
had granted it to John Plessy of Shapwick (co. Dorset),
'■' Rrd Bk. of F.xch. (Rolls str.), 331-2 ;
Crtai Roll of iht Pipe (I'ipc Roll Soc),
xi, 119, lii, 54, xxi, p. 53.
'0 Cott. MS. (B.M.), Doinit. A 8,
(ol. 87 ; Pipe Roll Soc. (New «cr.), i, p. 30 ;
Mag. Rot. Scacc. Norm. (Soc. of Antiq.),
ii, p. xlvii, note O.
" Pipe R. 8 Kic. I. m. 17.
'M/<jg. Rot. Scacc. Norm. (Soc. of
Antiq), ii, p. xlvi, note O.
" Ibid.
" Red Rk. of Exch. (Rollj ler.), p. 532 ;
Pipe R. 13 John, m. 13.
" Roi. I.itt. Pat. (Rcc. Com), i, 195* j
Rot. Lilt. Claui. (Rcc. Com.), i, 2S4.
" Ibid. 34r,A.
" Ibid. p. 389, 390*.
•' Ibid. 468* i A/af. Rot. Scacc. Norm.
(Soc. of Antiq.), ii, p. xlvi, note O.
" Cal. Pal. 1216-25, p. 532.
" Rk. of Fen, i, 603.
*' Cal. Pat. 1216-25, p. 532.
•• Cal. Cloie, 1227-31, pp. 36, 542.
•■ Cal. Cloie, 1231-34, p. 344.
•« Cal. Pal. 1232-47, p. 83.
•' Cal. Cloie, 1237-42, p. 257.
whose son John came into possession.''^ In 1406,'*
another John succeeded, and on his death in 1417, it
passed to John Cammell, son of Joan, the sister of
the fi.st John Plessy of Shap-
wick.'* His son Robert and
grandson William succeeded
him,'^ but William sold Burton
Plessy in 1496 to feoffees ap
parently to the use of Nicholas
Boughton, who died seised in
1 5 19.'* His son Edward pre-
sumably sold it to Sir Nicholas
Vaux, who died seised in
vo/
Plessy. Argent six rings
gules.
•« Ibid. ; Feud. Aids, iv, p. 12.
" Cal. Inq. p.m. iv, no. 17 ; Cur.
Reg.
R. no. 173, m. \od.
" Feud. Aids, iv, 12.
•» Wrotteslcy, Ped. from Plea R.
"3i
Cal. In(j. p.m. iv, no. 17; Ch.m.
Inq.
p.m. 7 Edw. II, no. 5 ; i Edw
Ill
(ut noj), no. 42 ; 31 Edw. Ill (ist
DOS.),
no. 18 ; 35 Edw. Ill, pt. 2 (1st
no«.)
no. 15.
'» Ibid.
" Ibid. 22 Ric. II, no. 25.
" Ibid.; Feet of F. Div. Cos.
Mil.
22 Ric. II.
'•Ch:m. Inq. p.m. 8 lien. IV, No
63;
frud. Aids, vi, p. 501.
'* Ch.in. Inq. p.m. 4 lien. V, no
3' ;
Feud. .Iidt, iv, 49.
'• llutcliins, llisl. of Dorset, iii, p.
166;
Cal. Pat. 1446-152, p. 278; I'ect
jf F.
NorthanH. 28 lien. VI, no. 124.
" Feet of F. Northants. Mich
12
Hen. VII, no. 43; Ch.in, Inq.
p.m.
(Srr. ii), xxxiv, 93.
" Ibid, xli, 60.
'• /,. 6- P. Hen. Vlll. ix, 697 ;
Feet
1523." The Vaux family
held it till the death of
Edward, Lord Vaux of Har-
rowden," when it passed under a settlement of 1646
to Nicholas KnoUys, Earl of Banbury." His son
Charles sold it to Christopher Cratford and John
Kenricke in 1687.** It changed hands frequently
at this time. Early in the 1 8th century, John Whiting
was lord of the manor,*' but in 1738 Mrs. Anne
Dickinson, a widow, sold it to Arthur Brooke.'- In
1764, William Steer and his wife Anne sold it to George
Udny,*^ who, in turn, sold it in the same year to John
Harpur,** who already had the manor of Burton
Latimer {q.v.)
The Priory of Bradstoke held the NETHER manor
or PRIOR'S manor in BURTON in frankalmoin of
the lords of the manor of Burton Plessy.** In 1221
Henry de Braibroc and his wife Christina Ledet
granted one virgate of land to the Prior,** but the
greater part of the manor must have been formed
from the land which Nicholas Malemains granted
to his sister Hillary in marriage. After the death
of her husband, VValter de Godarville, she granted
it in frankalmoin to the Priory, and further charters
were obtained from her daughter Joan, the wife
of Geoffrey Gacelyn.*' The Priory held the manor
till the early 1 6th century,** but it had been granted
to under-tenants at fee-farm.*' In 1502, it was held
by John Ashby*" in right of his wife Letitia, and they
sold it to Sir Richard Empson.*' It was forfeited
on Empson's attainder in 1509,'- and in 1512 Henry
VIII granted it to Sir William Compton.'^ In
some way, however, Thomas Empson regained pos-
of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 3 & 4 Ph. and Maiy ;
Trin. 31 Eliz. pt. i ; Chan. Inq. p.m.
(Scr. ii), ccxliv, 121 ; Pat. lojas. I, pt. 15 ;
Recov. R. 4 Chas. I, ro. 12.
'• Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 22
Chas. I i Feet of F. Northants. Mich.
1A55.
'" Ibid. Mil. 2 & 3 Jas. II.
*' Bridges, Hist, of Northants. ii, 224.
•' Feet of F. Ni>ithant8. K.ist. 1 1 Ceo. II,
"■ Ibid. Norlhants. Mich. 4 Ceo. III.
"* Feet of F. Northants, East, 4 Geo. III.
" Slowe MS. (IIM.), 925, fol. 152.
" Ibid. fol. ibid.
»' Ibid, fol, 152-3 ; Feet of F. case 172,
file 27, no. 345 ; case 173, file 40, no. 657 ;
Cal. Chart, iii, 225.
"" /'/«., dr Quo ll'arr. (RccCom,), 548-9.
»• /.. 6>- P. lien. 11 II, i, g. 587 (10).
"' Ibid, ; Feet of F. Northants. Mil.
17 Hen, VII.
•' Ibid.
"' Exch. Inq. p,m, (.Ser. ii), dclxxvi,
10, I I ; Chan, IiKi, p,m, (Ser, ii), xxvi, 21.
"• /.. 6- /'. //-•". /■///, i, K 10S3 (41) i
Pat. 3 Hen. VIII, pt. 3, m. 13.
182
HUXLOE HUNDRED
BURTON LATIMER
Croxton Abdiy. Or
a bend betzoeen iix mart-
Uis xuble.
session of the manor.*' He seems to have sold it
to Ricliard Fermor, a merchant of the Staple of Calais
who was attainted under Henry \'1II, but when par-
doned in 1550, only tenements in Burton l.atinier
are mentioned among the lands restored to liim.*^
The Prior's manor was apparently incUided amongst
them, since his son, Sir John Fermor, together with
his wife, sold it in 1555 to Richard Humphrey.'^ Tiie
latter died seised of it in 1557," but its later history
does not appear. In 1803 William King claimed to
have a manor in Burton Latimer, wiiich may iiave been
the Nether manor."'
The Abbey of Croxton held a manor, called
'THINGDEN and BURTON LAJIMER, with lands
in both townships. Its history
appears under Fineden.®'
The lords of the manor of
Burton Plessy held a view of
frankpledge, to which, in
1285, the tenants of the Prior
of Bradstock did suit."* The
Farls of Gloucester also held
a view of frankpledge for the
township of Burton, with-
drawing suitors from the
Abbot of Peterborough's court
for the Hundred of Huxloe.*
It passed by inheritance to
the Earls of Staflord,^ and came into the hands of the
king.'
In 1803, Henry, Duke of Buccleuch and his wife
Elizabeth owned the Honour of Gloucester Fee in
Northants, to which the view probably belonged.
They also claimed to own a manor in Burton Lati-
mer.**
Two mills were attached to the manor in 1086,
paying l6i. a year.* One mill is mentioned in 1220
as part of the inheritance of Margery Foliot,^ and
presumably passed with the manor of Burton Latimer.
The second mill seems to have been assigned to the
Malemains, whose sister Hillary granted it to the
Priory of Bradstock.' The Priory of Bushmede
also had a mill in Burton Latimer at the time of its
dissolution.'*
The church of ST. MART THE
CHURCH VIRGIN consists of chancel 41 ft. 6 in.
by 18 ft., with modern south vestry,
clearstoried nave 71 ft. by 17 ft. 6 in., north and south
aisles 11 ft. wide, north porch, and west tower and
spire. The width across nave and aisles is 44 ft. 6 in.,
and the tower is 13 ft. square, all these measure-
ments being internal.
The church throughout is built of rubble, with
leaded roofs to nave and aisles, and high-pitched
modern tiled roof to the chancel. The aisle parapets
are plain, and those of the clearstory battlemented.
The church was extensively restored in 1866-68, when
the tower and spire were taken down and rebuilt with
•* Early Chan. Proc. bdlc. 406, no. 42 ;
Anct. I). A. 5400.
•'Bridges, op. cit. i, 290; Cal. Pat.
1550-2, p. 22-23.
•• Fett of F. Northants. Mich. 2 & 3
Ph. and Mary.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cxiv, 3.
"* Pnv. Act of Pari. 43 Geo. Ill,
C65.
•• S«e btlow.
•• Cbm. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 109.
The prior was later allowed a view : Plac.
de Quo fVarr. (Rec. Com.), 548-9.
' Chron. Petrob. 109.
' Cal. Pat. 1401-5, p. 349.
• P.R.O. Ct. R. ptf. 194, no. 40.
•• Priv. Act of Pari. 43 Geo. Ill, c. 65.
« V.C.H. Northanti. i, 342*.
' Feet of F. case 172, file 17.
• Stowe MS. (B.M.), 925, fols. 152,
1521/, 153; Feet of F. case 173, file 40,.
no. 657 i Mich, z & 3 Ph. and Mary.
the old materials, and the flat roof of the chance!
removed. In 1882, the porch was restored, the vestry '
rebuilt, an organ recess constructed on the north
side of the chancel, and the nave reseated. All
the walls are plastered internally.
A prc-Conqucst stone with plait-work upon it
was re-used in the rebuilding of tlic tower, but no
part of the present building is older than the 1 2th
century, in the early part of which there was an
aisleless church, the nave occupying at least the
existing three west bays and probably a fourth farther
west, of which only half now remains.' The south
wall of this building was pierced c. 1 1 30 by an arcade
of four round arches, three of which, with a half
arch at the west end, and three piers still remain.
The eastern arch has a chevron moulding on the
nave side, the second a roll, while the others arc
unmouldcd, and all are plain facing the aisle. The
cylindrical piers have moulded bases and scalloped
capitals, the square abaci of which, in two of the
piers, have incised carving on the north face. No
north aisle was made at this time, but a transeptal
chapel was added on the north side at its east end,
entered through a round arcli, one of the jambshafts
of which remains in the compound pier of the
north arcade. This arch, which is equal in height
to the opposite arch in the south arcade, was originally
lower, and is now stilted on the west side : it has an
edge-roll towards the nave, and its impost blocks
remain on both sides.
A north aisle was added c. 1200, an arcade of three
bays with pointed arches of two chamfered orders
being cut through the wall west of the transept, two
and a half bays of which remain. The eastern pier
is a small square with large attached shafts, and the
western pier is cylindric.il, both having moulded
bases and capitals with good stiff leaf foliage. The
half-round east respond, which forms part of the
compound pier of the transept, has also a stiff-leaf
capital and square abacus, and the pier has also shafts
at the angles with foliated capitals and moulded
bases above a chamfered plinth. From the north
aisle an arch (now destroyed) was made into the
transept, springing from short angle-shafts in the
wall and from the back of the compound pier, some
2 ft. beow the arches of the nave.'
The great west tower was built in the second quarter
of the 13th century, and intruded on the west end
of the 12th-century nave, cutting it short by half a
bay, and shortly after, about 1250, the nave was
lengthened to the east by three bays, the old arches
immediately adjoining the new work being adapted
to it — on the south side by leaving a portion of the
12th-century respond capital above the capital of
the new pier, and on the north by the retention
of the impost block, new piers taking the place of the
original east responds. The aisle walls appear to
have been rebuilt at the same time, except, perhaps,
•• Rent & Surv. (P.R.O.) ptf. 20,
no. 15.
' It was of comparatively modern date.
® The massive stonework beneath the
eastern piers of the present nave suggests
that the early nave extended farther east,
but the length seems abnormal for an earlj
12th-century building.
' There are indications of a transverst
arch across the south aisle in the same
position.
183
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
in the western bay, and the chancel was completed
in its present form c. 1270-80. A keel-shaped string-
course runs round the whole of the chancel below
the windows, and along the aisles to within about
20 ft. from the west end.
About the middle of the 15 th century, the clear-
story was added, the porch built, and new windows
inserted in the aisles, the walls of which were
heightened. The spire is approximately of the same
date, perhaps immediately following the clearstory,
and the church then assumed its present aspect.
The chancel has been much restored.*" It has
two-stage buttresses of small projection, and a
modern five-light east window with geometrical
with smaller attached shafts at the angles. The
west windows of the aisles are modern copies of
late 13th-century two-light openings, but all the
other windows north and south are four-centred
15th-century insertions of three cinquefoiled lights.
The clearstory windows, six on each side, are three-
centred, and of two trefoiled lights.
The tower is of three stages, with good coupled but-
tresses and moulded plinth. The old stones having
been used in the rebuilding, it has lost little or nothing
of its original appearance. The doorway on the north
side reproduces a 14th-century opening in the same
position ; the entrance to the vice-turret in the south-
west angle, with its beautiful trefoiled head, has been
te^^^^
■ 12111 CiNTUKv H 1311! Cr.NTURv C.I2 10
□ C.I195-I200 [UT1C.I280
eaiSHJ Clmuky rebuilt rrJI5i!! Ci.ntuky
^^^^Ml^^ □MOD.KN
North Aisle
.#:
Nave
'.'Ml.\\'.¥'".'''^:
South Aisle
'.W
i!w^iiiiniiiiiiiirf^^^:^-[ijiiiiiiiiiiif,w^nT
10 5 o
^-^ f-i-f-n-T-1 j—^
10
20
30
O
Scale of Feet
Plan of Burton Latimer Church
tracery, but the other windows, three on each side,
are c. 1 280 of two trefoiled lights, with pointed trefoils
and cusped circles differing in detail in the heads.
There is a scroll string at sill level inside, but no
ancient ritual arrangements remain. The 13th
century chancel arch is of two chamfered orders,
the inner springing from half- octagonal responds
with moulded capitals and bases, the capitals being
cut back for a much restored and painted 15th-century
screen."
The arches of the three 13th-century eastern bays
of the nave arc of two chamfered orders springing from
piers of four clustered shafts and from half-octagonal
responds, all with moulded capitals and bases. The
13th-century north doorway is of a single continuous
chamfered order with hood, and retains a 15th-
century oak door on which are inscribed the names
of ' Ihon Campyon and Ihoan hys wyf.' Tiic lofty
porch is open to the roof and has a moulded outer
arch with canopied niche above breaking the parapet
of the gable. The south doorway is of late 12th-
century date with round head of two moulded orders,
the outer on nook shafts with carved capitals and
blocked and an external doorway made. The west
window is a widely splayed single lancet with rear
arch, and the lower stage is open to the nave by an
arch of three chamfered orders springing from clus-
tered shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The
middle stage has plain arcading of three pointed arches
on the north, south and west sides, the middle arch
on the west being pierced by a lancet. The double two-
light bell-cliamber windows were originally without
tracery, but the lights were afterwards trefoiled and
a quatrefoil inserted in the head. The battlemented
parapet is the same date as the spire, which has two
sets of crocketed gabled lights.
The roofs of the nave and aisles are in the main
ancient, with moulded principals and carved bosses,
but all the rafters arc new.
The font is ancient and consists of a plain octagonal
bowl and stem on a chamfered base : on the west the
stem has a solid projection bringing it in line with the
bowl.
The north aisle wall had formerly a painting, per-
haps of the 14th century, representing tlie story of St.
Katharine, within a border, but only a fragment now
"About 1750 a pUiter ceiling wai
erected over the ch.incel and the cait
end partitioned of! Co form ■ veitr/, a
doorway bcinj; broken thr'»u;!i the east
wall.
" The icrcen ,wh(ch had been removed
184
W.1S put hack at tlic time of the restoration
and a luft added.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
BURTON LATIMER
remains. A scries of late Elizalicthan paintings of the
twelve patriarchs in strapworlc frames occupy the
spandrels of the nave arcades and are in a fair state of
preservation, though two have perished.^
There is a good Jacobean oak poor box : a large iron-
bound chest is dated 1629.
Below the tower is a marble wall monument with
brass figure, shields and inscription to Margaret Bacon
a ' chrisom ' cliild (d. Jan. 1626-7), •'"'^ <" t''<^ •^•"t ^"J
of the nave and in the chancel are two grave slabs
with indents of brasses, one of which retains a group
of nine daughters and a shield, and the other a shield
only.
There is a ring of eight bells. The treble and second
arc by Taylor & Co. of Loughborough 1920, the third
by the same founders 1903, the fourth dated 1620,
the fifth by T. and J. Eayre of Kettering 1718, the
sixth and seventh dated 1619, and the tenor by Thomas
Eayre of Kettering 1749.*'
The plate consists of a silver cup and cover patent
of 1569, the paten inscribed ' 1571 ' on the foot ; a
paten of c 1682, and a flagon and almsdish of 1774.*'*
The registers begin in 1538, but the earlier entries
are on two parchment rolls. The first roll contains
baptisms to 1559, marriages to 1561 and burials to
1560, and the second, baptisms and burials to 1569
and marriages to 1367. The contents of the books
before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms 1558-1700,
marriages 1558-1718, burials 1558-1678,** (ii) burials
1678-1735, (iii) baptisms 1700-1812, (iv) marriages
1719-1757, (v) marriages 1754-1812, (vi) burials 1736-
1812. The first book contains lists of churchwardens
and overseers from 1668 to 1757 and of constables
from 1679 to 1757. There are cliurchvvardens' ac-
counts beginning in 1559 but not continuous, and a
book of briefs 1670-1753.
The Foliots held the advowson
ADVOWSON of the church of Burton Latimer in
the 1 2th century, but Richard Foliot
seems to have made some kind of grant of it to the
abbot of Beaulieu in Brittany, since, in 1220, the
abbot quitclaimed it to Richard's daughter and heir
Margery and Wischard Ledet.*' Thomas Male-
mains presented to the church between 12 16 and 1219"
and in 1263 his granddaughter Ela and her husband
claimed the advowson against Christina Lcdet, but
they lost their case'* and Christina gave it to her son
Gerard de Furnival.*' When he went to the Holy
Land he entrusted the advowson and an acre of land
to the rector, Master John Fleming, on condition that
if Gerard did not return they should be granted to
Christina de Aylcsford, with remainder to her son
Gerard de Aylcsford.'''" Fleming presented in 1290,'*
but in a lawsuit of 1368 it appears lie did not carry out
Furnival's stipulations.''^
Prior to 13 16, Sir Walter de Neville recovered the
advowson from Robert Fleming and Gerard de Ayles-
ford^' and granted it to Philip de la Bechc.'-' Pliilip's
heir was his brother Jolin who died before lie obtained
seisin-^ and liis two sons died childless, so that the
advowson was inherited in 1 348 by his three daughters.-'
In the meantime, however, Thomas Fytling, who
presented in 1348,^' and his wife Alice seem to have
obtained the advowson, but it was recovered in 1349
by Andrew de Sackville and his wife Joan, the eldest
of the de la Bechc heiresses.'^* The heiresses and their
husbands granted it to Edmund de la Bechc, Arch-
deacon of Berkshire,^" who died seised of it before
1364.^ He was said in 1369 to have granted it to
Roger de Elmerugge, who successfully defended his
right in it against Sir William Latimer.'' In 1369
Latimer obtained a grant of the advowson, wliich was
held by John de Aylesford and in some way ousted
John de Elmerugge, and from this time the advowson
was held by the lords of Burton Latimer manor ''(q.v.)
until after 1676, when Edmund Bacon presented.''^ It
was sold by him or his successor to Sir Gilbert Dolben
bart.,** whose family retained it till 1803.*^ In 1809
John Grimshaw presented''* and in 1874 '^ belonged
to the Rev. Francis Brown Newman.^' At the pre-
sent day Mrs. Jaques is the owner of the advowson.
A considerable amount of land was attached to the
rectory and in 1 3 30 the rector was said to hold two
carucates. He and his predecessors held a view of
frank-pledge, waifs and strays, the assize of bread and
beer, and certain amercements. The right to hold the
view was disputed by the crown officials, but the rector
recovered it on payment of a fine.^
About 1239, the rector of Burton Latimer presented
Walter, a chaplain, to the vicarage of Burton, but ap-
parently no vicarage was permanently ordained.'" A
Baptist Chapel here dates from 1744 ; there is also a
Wesleyan Chapel in the village.
An allotment of 10 acres was set
CHARITIES out on an inclosure of the lands in
this parish in 1804 in lieu of land
formerly appropriated to the repairs of the church.
This land was sold in 1919 and the proceeds invested
in ;^5I7 10/. jd. 5 per cent. War Stock, producing
;^25 17/. 6d. yearly in dividends. The income is ap-
plied by the churchwardens towards church repairs.
Another allotment containing about 2j acres was
" The fifth from the east on the north
•idc and the westernmost on the south
•ide. The names of Levi and Issachar
and the general reference to Gen. xlix
and verses can be easily read. The refer-
ence to Levi is Deut. xxxiii, 8-1 1.
• '• The third bell was added as a treble
to a then existing ring of five, the inscrip-
tions on which arc given in North, Ch.
Brill of NorthanU. 213. The two new
trebles were added in 1920 as a War
Memorial.
" Markham, Cb. Plate of \ontanii. 59.
■' Many of the entries between 1643
and 1646 were not made in the time of the
war, but some were afterwards inserted.
'• Feet of F. c.ise 172, file 17, no. 77.
" Cur. Reg. R. no. 173, m. io</j
Roi. Lilt. Clam (Rec. Com.), i, 390*.
" Cur. Reg. R. no. 173, m. lod.
" Rot. Ric. Gravesend (Cant, and York
Soc), 105, 306.
" Dc Banco R. no. 427, m. 203.
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 224, cit. Epis. Reg.
-' De Banco R. no. 427, m. 203.
=' Bridges, loc. cit.
:« De Banco R. Mich. 22 Edw. Ill,
m. 420.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 2 Edw. Ill (ist nos.),
no. 51.
=» Dc Banco R. Mich. 22 Edw. Ill,
m. 420; Cal. Pat. 1348-50, p. 12S.
" Cal. Pat. 1348-50, p. 149.
" De Banco R. Mich. 22 Edw. Ill, m.
420.
" Feet of F. case 177, file 79, no. 389 ;
ibid, case 177, file 80, no. 450.
»" Cal. Pat. 1364-7, p. 45.
203,
" Dc Banco R. no. 427,
Cal. Close, 1364-68, pp. 374-5.
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 224 ; Cal. Close,
1381-85, p. 393; Chan Inq. p.m. 20
Ric. II, no. 54 ; ibid. (Scr. ii), clxxviii, 57 j
ibid, ccxlviii, 22 ; Feet of F. Nurthants.
Trin. I Chas. I ; East. 21 Chas. 1.
" Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.), 1676.
** Bridges, op. cit. ii, 225.
" Instit. Bks. (P.R.O.), 1757.
I*'. Northants. Trin. i Geo.
Geo. III.
" Instit. Bks. (P.R.O.), 1809.
'■ Whdl.ui, Hist. 0/ Northants. t874,
p. 748.
« Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com),
p. 536.
" Rot. Rob. Grosseteste (Cant, and York
Soc), 183.
Feet of
"Ii 45
185
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
set out in lieu of land formerly called the Bell
Land or Bell Close. This land was also sold in 1919
and the proceeds invested in £iji l6s. id. 5 per cent.
War Stock, producing ^^8 i is. lod. yearly in dividends.
This is also applied by the churchwardens towards
church repairs.
The charities of William and Agnes Scott are regvi-
l.itcd by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated
28 January 1S81. In 1514 William and Agnes Scott
gave ;^I0 for the relief of the poor, and this with a
further sum of ^^40 arising from rents of some of the
Charity Estates was laid out in land for which, on the
inclosure of the parish, an allotment known as the
40 acre allotments was awarded. This property was
sold in 1919 and the proceeds invested in j^a.foo
4 per cent. Funding Stock, producing £100 yearly,
which is distributed in coal by the rector and 15
other trustees.
By his will, date unknown, Richard Hopkins gave
a piece of land in Burton Latimer containing about
I a. 3 r. to the churchwardens for the poor. The land
has been sold and the endowment now consists of
£2^6 js. 8d. Consols producing £6 3/. yearly, which is
applied in the distribution of six 2 lb. loaves weekly
to the poor.
An allotment of 70 acres was awarded for the benefit
of the poor upon the inclosure of the parish. The
charity is administered by the lord of the manors of
Burton Latimer, the rector of St. Mary and 4 other
trustees in compliance with a scheme of the Charity
Commissioners dated 23 May 1919. The land was
sold for £2,500 in 1919. Owing to the insolvency of
the solicitor acting for the trustees the deposit money
of ;^25o was lost. The residue of ^{^2,250 was invested
in j^2,8i2 los. 4 per cent. Funding Stock. Of this £500
has been placed to an Investment Account in tiie
books of the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds
to replace the sum of £'2.S°- The income from the
residue, amounting to j^92 los., is distributed in coal
and "lothing.
By his will dated 3 July 1546 William Luck gave
6s. yearly for the poor. This charge which issued out
of a house and premises in Burton Latimer was re-
deemed in 1924 by the transfer of £ll Consols to the
Official Trustees of Charitable Funds. The income
is applied by the trustees of the charities of William
and Agnes Scott in the distribution of coal.
The same trustees administer the charity of
George Plowright who by deed in 1633 gave a similar
sum for the poor. This charge, which issued out of
the same premises as William Luck's rentcharge, was
also redeemed by the transfer of £\2 Consols to the
Official Trustees of Charitable Funds in 1924 and
the income is applied in the distribution of coal.
By his will dated in 1727 William Dickenson gave
j£6o for the poor not receiving parochial relief. This
fund was placed out on mortgage, but was after-
wards applied in defraying inclosure expenses concern-
ing allotments set out in lieu of some of the Charity
estates.
By iiis will proved in P.R. 22 August 1921 Thomas
Ambler gave £1 yearly for the Old People's Treat. The
charge has been redeemed by the transfer of ^^40
Consols to the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds.
The charity is managed by a committee.
By her will proved 19 Sept. 1856 Elizabeth Dop-
ping Arnold gave ^^loo Consols to the rector and
churchwardens for the poor. The dividends amount-
ing to £z los. yearly are applied in April for the relief
of the poor.
The several sums of stock arc with the Official
Trustees of Cliaritable Funds.
CRANFORD ST. ANDREW
Craneford (xi cent.).
The parish of Cranford St. Andrew hes between
100 ft. and 300 ft. above the ordnance datum, the
subsoil being Great and Inferior Oolite. One of the
numerous streams of the district forms the southern
boundary. The little village lies about half a mile
to the north of the main road from Kettering to
Thrapston and Huntingdon. It consists only of
Cranford Hall and tlie cliurch of St. Andrew, a few
cottages and an Institute founded by the Rev. Sir
George Robinson. There are various spinneys
in the parish. The nearest station is at Cranford
St. John, on the Kettering and Huntingdon branch
of the London Midland and Scottish Railway Iron-
stone was extensively worked in the 19th century.'
The parish was inclosed in 1775 by a private Act of
Parliament, for dividing and inclosing certain common
and open fields and meadows in tlie parish of Cran-
ford .=
In tlic early records of the manors in
MANORS CR/INFORD no distinction is made
between the two parishes of Cranford
St. Andrew and Cranford St. John, so that it is
difficult to decide in which parish their lands were
situated. Probably the different estates spread into
both parishes, and certainly the same undertenants
held lands in Cranford of different overlords. In
Domesday Book, four separate holdings are mentioned,
of which two belonged to the fee of Peterborough
Abbey ; the first of these was held by Robert and
consisted of 3 hides of land ; the second contained
l\ hides, to which apparently no undertenant is
given, but there appears the ambiguous and difficult
passage that ' Godric holds (or held it) of the King.''
The third holding contained only one virgate and
was held of the Bishop of Coutances by Robert.^
The fourth consisted of 3 virgates held of Guy de
Reinbuedcurt by Odelin.* In the 12th-century
survey more than double this amount of land is
assigned to Cranford,* and it is diflicuh to identify
the holdings, except in the case of the Rcinbuedcurts.
Guy's son Richard had succeeded him and held a
hide, instead of 3 virgates, which was said to belong
to the fee of Peterborough, instead of being held of
the King.'
It seems clear, however, that the manor of CRAN-
FORD ST. ANDREW, alias DAUNDELTNS or
DORLANDS MANOR, may be traced to the manor
' Whclbn, lliit. of Norlitnli. 1874, p.
749.
• 15 Geo. Ill, c. 35.
• y.C.U. Northanli. i
186
VT>-
• Ibid. 311a.
' Ibid- 343-
• Ibid. 389a.
f Ibid.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
Or two bends
held in 1086 by Robert as a mesne lord of the Abbey
and identified with the somewhat smaller holding of
Maurice Daundelyn in the 12th-century survey.'
Robert was presumably Robert D'Oylcv who was
the tenant in 1125-2S,"' and
the manor continued to be
held of the fee of D'Oyley til!
1253.'° In 1284 John son of
Guy was the mesne lord,** but
afterwards the manor seems
to have been held immediately
of the Abbey.'- In 1086 a
nameless knight was the sub-
tenant of Robert D'Oyley,"
and early in the next century
the manor was in the hands of
Maurice Daundelyn.'* It was
held by the service due from half a knight's fce.'^
Maurice was succeeded in direct male succession'" by
Ralph (living 1189)," Maurice (living temp. John),'*
Ralph (living 1228),'* Maurice (l 261), Hugh (living
1 280- 1 3 16),-" John (living temp. Edward III)-' and
John Daundelyn (living 1346).-- The second John sold
the manor in 1360 to Henry Pyel, afterwards Arch-
deacon of Northampton, and Richard Bryan, chaplain,
presumably as trustees of John Pyel.'-^ The manor
followed the descent of Pyel's manor in Woodford,-' in
spite of attempts by John, son of William, son of the
last-named John Daundelyn-'' in 1403 and by his son
William-" in 1469, to recover possession. In 1595,
William, Lord Vaux of Harrowden, who had been
empowered by Act of Parliament to alienate certain
manors, sold Cranford to Thomas Hensman, Owen
Prise and Thomas Conwaye," who also obtained a
quitclaim of the manor from Sir Thomas Cecil and his
wife Dorothy.-* It is said to have come before 1676
into the possession of a family named Coo, wlio were
lords of the manor of Cranford St. Johns (q.v.)
Dr. Christopher Coo, D.D., sold it in 1715 to Sir
James Robinson, bart.,-' and his descendant Sir
Frederick Robinson is now lord of the manor.
Godric's holding in Cranford mentioned in Domes-
day Book^ may possibly be identified with CURZON'S
Af.4.\0R, which was held of the Abbey of Peter-
borough early in the 12th century by Bertram de
Robinson. Vrrt a hart
Inppiit^ in an orle of
trcjoili or.
CRANFORD
ST. ANDREW
Verdun, whose holding, however, contained 2 hides and
I J virgates of land," instead of the l} hides held bv
Godric. In the latter half of the
13th century John de Verdun,
Constable of Ireland, seems to
have held the overlordsliip.''-
Wliile the lands came into
liis hands owing to the for-
feiture for felony by an under-
tenant, he seems to have
enfeoffed John de Kirkby with
part of them, overriding the
rights of his intermediate
tenant. Sir Richard Curzoii.^
No furtlier mention is made
of the Verdun mesne lordship,
but lands, parcel of the manor of Cranford, were
held of the Curzons of Croxhall, in Staffordshire,
as late as 1638.^'
Richard Curzon granted it to his son Thomas,^
whose son Robert was the tenant in 1278 and 1284,"*
and who seems to have settled
at Cranford.^' In 1300 and
1316 the tenant was John
Curzon,^ who was probably
succeeded by Thomas Curzon
before 1329.^' It passed before
1374 to Margaret Curzon,
who probably married John
Fossebrook. He was living in
1391, but seems to have died
before I403. His son and heir,
John, died in 1418, and both
he and his wife Maud, who
was nurse to King Henry VI,
arc buried at Cranford St. Andrew. She survived him
for many years, and apparently held the manor for
life. She was succeeded in direct succession by
Gerard, John and Robert Fossebrook, the last-named
dying seised of Curzon's manor in 1518. He was suc-
ceeded by his son John,''" who died in less than a
year. The manor passed to Richard, John's brother and
heir,'" whose direct descendants held it till 1630,''-
when, after the death of John Fossebrook, leaving
several daughters as his heirs, it was sold to Lawrence
Curzon of CroxI)all.
Azure a bend between
tion Iiotis argent wt th three
piirrots vert on the bend.
» r.C.H. Norlbants. i, 389A.
• Cbron. Pelrob. (Camden Soc), 173.
'» Ibid. ; Sparke, Htst. Angl. Script.
(Var.) pt. ii, 62,81; Cal. Chart, i, 20 ; Cal.
Imj. i, no. 10; Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, fol.
249.
" Feud Aids, iv, 13.
"Colt. MS. (B.M.), Vesp. E xxii,
fol. 112; Feud Aids, iv, 49; Cal. Inq.
Hen. f'J/, i, no. 297.
" V.C.H. Norlbants. i, 317a.
'* Ibid. 389.
" Cal. Inq. i, no. 10 ; Egerton MS.
(B.M.) 2733, fol. 136,^; Feud Aids,
iv, 13; Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, fol. 152
(in another entry, in the same register
(fol. 128) John Daundelyn is said to hold
I \ fees in Cranford, but this is probably
a mistake).
'• Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, fol. 152; De
Hanco R. 833, m. 324.
*' Cbron. Petrob. 173 ; Sparke, op. cit.
C2 ; Cal. Chart, i, p. 20; iv, p. 277.
The dates are talicn from Mellows,
Pytebley's Bk.of Fees, 116 «, who quotes
authorities.
*• Cal. Inq. i, no. 10; Egerton MS.
(B.M.) 2733, fol. 1 36; Feet of F. Northants.
37 Hen. Ill, case 173, file 39, no. 627 ; 45
Hen. Ill, case 174, file 46, no. 805.
'» Mellows, Pytchley's Bk. 0/ Fees
(North.ints Rcc. Soc), 116 », quoting
Swaflham, fol. 267*.
"> Feud. Aids, iv, pp. 13, 29 ; Cott. MS.
Vesp. E xxii, fol. 1 12.
•' Ibid. Cleop. C i, fol. 152; Cal.
Pat. 1350-54, p. 254.
" Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, fol. 152.
" Feet of F. Northants, Mich. 33
Edw. Ill, case 177, file 81, no. 477 ;
;o Edw. Ill, case 178, file 85, no. 696 ;
Cal. Close 13S5-S9. p. 143.
" See below j Feet of F. Northants.
4 Hen. VI, case 179, file 93, no. 35 ;
Feud. Aids, iv, p. 49 ; Cal. Inq. Hen. VII,
i, no. 297 ; Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 587,
no. 40 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 27
Elii. ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii) ccxiiv,
115.
«' Wrottcsley, Ped. from the Plea R.
231, citing De Banco R. Mich. 4 Hen. IV,
m. 492.
«• Ibid. 428, citing De Banco R. 9
Edw. IV, m. 324.
187
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxiiv, 115;
Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 37 Eliz.
" Ibid. nil. 38 Eliz.
" Bridges, Hist, of Northants. ii, 227 ;
G.E.C. Baronetage, iii, 55.
"" V.C.H. Northants. i, 317,1.
>' Ibid. 3890 kb.
" Colt. Ch. XXX, 2.
'' Cf. Ch.in. Inq. p.m. iS Edw. I, no. 37.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dcclxxt, 5S.
"Ibid. 18 Edw. I. no. 37.
s' Ibid. ; cf. Rot. Ric. Cramsend (Cant,
and Yoik Soc), 136; Feud. Aids, iv. 13.
»' Cf. Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), i,
166; Cal. Close, 1307-13, p. 150.
'" Rot. Jn. Dalderby, cit. Bridges, ii,
228 ; Feud. Aids, iv, 19.
" Cal. Close, 1327-30, 589.
'"Northants. N. and Q. (New Ser.), ii,
12-13; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xxxiii,
78. «'Ibid.
"J. Metcalfe, yisit. of Northants, 20,
89; /,. and P. Hen. I'll I, xvil, g. 1012
(39) ; F'ect of F. Northants. Mich. 33 St
34 Eliz. ; East, 1 Jas. I ; Mich. 11 Jas. I j
Exch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), dccii, 10; CUian.
Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), Misc. iii, 4;.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
FossFBROOK. Azure a
salttre between four cinq'
foils argent.
a year
CHURCH
Maidwell, Arthur Bold and Jolin Bland." In 1654,
Arthur and John Bland sold it to Henry Hudson,"
who resold it in 1657 to Bernard Walcott.*^ In 1700,
his grandson William, son of another Bernard W'alcott,
sold it to Sir James Robinson, bart.,^* who later
purchased Daundclyn's manor (q.v.).
The Earls of Gloucester claimed various privileges
in connection with their holding in Cranford, which
they presumably obtained after the forfeiture of the
Bishop of Coutances, but they
held more than the virgate as-
signed to the bishop in 1086.*'
Both the Daundelyns''* and
Fossebrooks*^ held land of the
honour of Gloucester. The
earls had a view of frank-
pledge, court leet, assize of
bread and ale, pillory, tumbril,
infangthief and outfangrhief,
chattels of felons and fugitives,
waifs and strays, and the re-
turn and execution of all writs,
summons and orders of the
king, for their Cranford lands.^" A mill belonged to
Godric's land in Cranford in 1086. It then paid 2s.
. 61
The church of ST. ANDREW stands
within the park of Cranford Hall, a
short distance south-west of the house,
and consists of chancel 24 ft. 6 in. by 13 ft., north and
south chapels, each 8 ft. 6 in. wide, clearstoried nave
of three bays 38 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 3 in., north aisle
8 ft. wide, north transept, south porch and west
tower 9 ft. 6 in. square, all these measurements being
internal. The width across the nave and aisle is
26 ft. 10 in. The transept was added in 1847 at the
eastern end of the north wall, and measures internally
II ft. 8 in. square.*-
The building generally is of rubble, with low-
pitched leaded roofs. A former external coat of
plaster is now rapidly peeling away. There are
plain parapets to the nave, aisle and chapcl.% but the
chancel and porch are battlemented. The chapels
cover the chancel its full length, the walls being flush
at the east end.
The earliest part of the building is the nave arcade,
which is of late 12th-century date, and consists of three
round arches of two square orders springing from
cylindrical piers with plain circular capitals and roll
bases, and at either end from corbels. In the 13th
century the church appears to have been largely
reconstructed, the tower being then erected, the
nave probably rebuilt,''^ and a north chapel first
added. The 13th-century arch between the aisle
and chapel is of two chamfered orders on half-round
responds, with moulded capitals and bases, but the
chapel itself retains no original architectural features.
The tower consists of a lofty lower stage with coupled
buttresses of small projection and a bell-chamber
story which has been heightened at some later
period by the addition of plain masonry above the
windows, and an embattled parapet. The 13th-
century west doorway is of two moulded orders on
noo'' shafts with moulded capitals, but the bases are
gone, and the outer order is disfigured with plaster.
Above is a single wide lancet, and there is another
lancet on the south side high up in the lower stage,
the north side being blank. The bell-chamber
windows are c. 1 280, of two trefoiled lights and cusped
circle in the head, except on the west side, where
there is simple trefoiled tracery above the lights and
a plain circle. The arch to the nave is a beautiful
piece of 13th-century work of four^'' chamfered orders,
the first or innermost springing from triple shafts
with moulded capitals and bases, the second and
outer continuous, while the third terminates with
tall 'extinguisher' stops above slender angle shafts
with moulded capitals and bases.^
In the first half of the 14th century the church
underwent a very extensive alteration, amounting
almost to a rebuilding, the clearstory and porch being
then added and new windows inserted. The aisle
may have been rebuilt at this time, but the south
wall, at any rate up to sill level, was retained. Further
alterations took place in the 15th century, when the
south chapel was added, and the chancel and north
chapel assumed their present aspect. The south
chapel was largely refaced with ashlar in 1674.**
The chancel has a four-centred east window of
three cinquefoiled lights, with vertical tracery, and
is open to the chapels by arches of two chamfered
orders, that on the south carried on corbels, the
other dying out. The piscina, reredos, and all the
fittings are modern : a screen was erected in 1893.
The 14th-century chancel arch is of two chamfered
orders, the inner springing from half-octagonal
responds with moulded capitals and bases. The
rood-loft stair remains on the north side, at the end
of the aisle, the steps ascending from the east in
front of the 13th-century arch to the chapel : the loft
doorway is blocked and covered with plaster.
The north chapel is now used as a vestry and orgar.
chamber and is lighted by I5th-rcntury windows,
but both windows ot the south chapel are modern.
The aisle retains a 14th-century square-headed two-
light window, but its doorway has been transferred
to the transept : another window of the aisle is a
15th-century insertion. Both windows in the nave
are 14th century, that west of the porch square-
headed and of two trefoiled lights, the other a pointed
three-light window with curvilinear tracery : the
clearstory windows, four on each side, are trefoiled
openings similar to those at Barton Seagrave, within
curved triangular labels. There is a 14th-century
trefoiled piscina in the south wall of the nave, west
of the screen, but the south doorway is a I5tli-century
insertion with four-centred head. The porch has
a continuous moulded outer arch and small windows
of two trefoiled lights on each side.
The font is ancient and consists of a plain octagonal
" Sorihonli N. and Q. (New Scr.), il,
14-15; I'lct of F. Nnrllianli. Mich.
1; Cl>]i. I ; ibid. Mil. 22 Chat I.
"Ibid. Mich. 1654.
'"' Nolciof Finci, Northanti, Trin. ilj;/.
" Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 1 1
Will. III.
«' I'C.II. S'erlhnnll. i, Jllfl.
" i.'j/. Close 1354-60, p. 4;3.
*• Ch.irt. In(^. p.m. 4 llcii. IV, no. 41.
'» flac. de Quo If'arr. (Rcc. Com.), 571 ;
Cal. Pal. 1401-5, 341).
" y.C.U. Nonhanli. i, J17A.
" It wa> erected by the Rev. Sir OorRe
Robiiiion, b.irt., rector, at a kind of * hall
prw,' with futernil entrance.
188
**A kecI-B)t.ipfd BtriiiK at lilt level (»n
tlir south nidc is -ill the architect urat
cvidrticc that mirvivcs.
'^' Three orJcn facing west.
^'•^ The :ircli was opened out. ahiiut 1847
by the removal of a wc^t gallery.
''" The date is on the south wall over
the dnnrway.
r
Cranfokd St. Andrew's Church from the South
Cranfdrd Si. Andrmv's Cmirui : 'I'lit Imi.kiok, looking East
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
of Simon Fitz Simons, the last of whom died in
1280, when he was succeeded by his grandson or
nephew Sir John de Verdun. His son Sir Thomas
succeeded in 1295 and died in 1315 leaving a son
John. Sir John de Verdun was holding in 1368 of
Robert de Lisle.* In 1466, however, this part of
Cranford was held of Richard Earl of Warwick,'
and in 1479 of Richard Duke of Gloucester.* In the
reign of Henrj- VII the overlordship came to the
Crown.*
In the 1 2th century the tenant in demesne of these
5 hides was Ralph fitz Roger.*" Part .of the land was
later held by knight's service by William de Cranford,
who died before 1 209, when his heir, presumably a
minor, had succeeded him.** Ralph de Cranford
was the tenant between 1235'- and 1262." He was
succeeded by his son William who was holding in
I284,i'' but in 1295 Ralph son of William appears.*^
William son of Ralph de Cranford made a settlement
of the manor in 1330.'* The next tenants were
Baldwin Drayton of Cranford and his wife Alice, and
as the manor formed part of her inheritance, she may
have been the daughter of the last William de Cran-
ford." She and her husband sold it in 1394 to John
son of Baldwin Drayton,** and in 1426 the latter
together with his son John, who had married ."Vnne,
daughter of Robert de Cran-
ford, were parties to a lawsuit
over lands in Cranford.*' In
1466 William Drayton died
seised of a capital messuage
and land in Cranford.-" His
son Richard died in 1479.^*
Tlie property seems to have
passed to Richard's sister
Anne, the wife of Thomas
I.ovett." Henry Lovett, pre-
sumably her son, died seised of
'Drayton's manor' in Cran-
ford in 1492.^ He was suc-
ceeded by his son Thomas, who died seised in 1 542,
his heir being his grandson, another Thomas Lovett.-'
The latter sold the manor in 1550 to Thomas Good-
fellow.-^ In 1614 Christopher Goodfellow was the
tenant-" and it passed about 1652 to liis daughters
Jane, the wife of William Coo, and Mary and Sarah
Goodfellow.^' The manor came to the family of Coo
and passed on the death of William Coo in 1676 to
their son Christopher Coo, D.D., who also was lord
of Daundelyn's manor (q.v.) in Cranford St. Andrew.^'
Lovett. Argent three
wolves passant pjli':vise
sable .
In 1805, Elizabeth, Duchess of Buccleuch, owned
the manor of Cranford St. John.^*'
A second holding in Cranford St. John was known
in the 1 6th century as the manor of CRANFORD. It
originally formed part of the holding of Bertram of
Verdun in the early 1 2th century-' and seems to have
been separated by the overlord, John de Verdun,
Constable of Ireland, from Curzon's manor in Cran-
ford St. -Andrews.^ In 1476 this estate was said to be
held directly of the Abbey of Peterborough,^* and
after the Dissolution, of the king in chief.*- In the
reign of Henry III certain lands were held by William
de Esseby of Sir Richard Curzon, but they were for-
feited for felony and escheated to the Constable, who
granted them to John de Kirkby, Bishop of Ely, to
hold as the sixth part of half a knight's fee.^ On the
bishop's death in 1289 the lands should have escheated
to Robert Curzon,*^ but they passed to William dc
Kirkby, the bishop's brother, and were neld immedi-
ately of the \'erduns.^ William died in 1302 seised
of rents and tenements in Cranford and in 1303 his
lands were divided between his four sisters and co-
heirs, Cranford being assigned to Maud, the wife of
Gilbert de Houby.^" She died seised about 131 1 and
was succeeded by her son Walter de Houby.^' Cran-
ford seems to have passed to his son Anketine, who
died seised of 6 messuages, 6 virgates of land and
8 marks rent in Cranford.^ These tenements finally
passed to John Bellers, the son of Elizabeth, the
daughter of Anthony, the son of Alice, the daughter of
Anketine de Houby.'* Bellers died seised in 1476
and Cranford passed to John Villers, the son of his
sister Joan."*" In 1506 Villers was succeeded by his
son, another John,''* who sold the manor of Cranford
to Edward Montagu, scrjeant-at-law, William Dudley,
William Stokes, Thomas Stokes and Henry Freeman,
giving a quitclaim to the purchasers and the heirs ot
Montagu.^- Henry Freeman, however, appears to
have obtained possession of these lands,''^ and his son
Thomas Freeman died in 1637 seised of the manor
and left the land which was parcel of the manor to
his executors for provision for the children of his
brother Henry.'''' His heir was Henry's son Thomas,
a niinor.*^ A Thomas Freeman died in 1692, and
the manor passed to his daughter Elizabeth, the wife
of Weaver.''* In 1730, their son, the Rev. William
Henry Weaver, was lord of the manor.'" A free
fishery in Cranford is mentioned in 1753''* and 1786^'
as appurtenant to Lovett's manor, and at the latter
date 3 water corn mills belonged to the manor.^
' Farrrr, op. cit. i, 114-118; Book of
Feel, ii, 1)37; FeuJ. Aids, iv, 13; Cal.
Close, 12S8-5C), p. 448 ; 1364-68, p. 497.
' Chan. Inq. p.m. 5 Edw. W, no. 7.
• Ibid. If) Edw. IV, no. 44.
• Cal. lisq. lien. VII, \, no. 753.
'" V.C.II. Norlhants. i, 389 a & * ; cf.
rcmsrki on thii point in K,irrcr, op. cit.
i, ii3.
■' Book of Fees, i, 18.
"Ibid, i, 500; ii, 937 J Fcft o( F.
Northanti. Mil. 24 Ilcn. Ill ; 45 lien. Ill,
no. 806.
" Exeerpi. e Rot. Fin. ii, 382.
*• Feud. Aids, iv, 13.
" Cal. Close, 1288-96, p. 448.
" Feet of F.North.inti. Hil. 3 Edw. III.
" Feet of F. Div. Coi. Mich. i« RIc. II,
no. 370. '■ Ibid.
" Ejtiy Chan. Prof. bdlc. 7, no. 250.
'» Ch.nn. Inq. p.m. 5 Edw. I\', no. 7.
•' Ibid. 19 Edw. IV, no. 44.
" Ibid.
" Cal. Inq. Hen. VII, i, no. 7^3.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii) Ivvi, 42.
•' Rccov. R. nil. 4 Edw. VI, ro. 100;
Feet of v. Norliiants. East. 5 Edw. VI.
" Feet of F. Notthanls. Mil. 11 Jas. I.
•' Ibid. Trin. 1652; Bridgei, op. cit. ii,
230.
•• Ibid. Feet of F. Northanli. Trin. 5
Anne ; Hil. 10 Anne.
"'» Privau All of Pari. 45 Ceo. Ill,
c. 34.
" r.C.ft. Nonhanii. i, 389 a lib.
>** ('ban. Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. I, no. 37.
" Ibid. 16 E<lw. IV, no. 14.
*■ Clian. Iri(|. p.m. (.Scr. ii) dcdi, 141.
" Colt, Cb. (H.M.) XXI, 2 ; Chan. Inq.
p.m. 18 Edw. I, no. 37.
190
" Ibid.
" Ibid. ; ibid. 30 F.dw. I, no. 31.
•« Ibid.
•' Ibid. 5 Edw. II, no. 28.
" Ibid. 16 Edw. IV, no. 14.
"» Ibid. " Ibid.
*' Ibid. (Ser. ii) xx, 37.
" Rccov. R. Mich. 27 Hen. VIII, ro.
121 ; Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 27
Ilcn. VIII.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), cccxii. 2 ;
ccxciii, <;.
" Ibid, dccli, 141.
«' Ibid.
" Dridgei, Hist, of Norihanls. ii, 227.
"Ibid.; Rccov. R. Trin. 4 Geo. II,
ro. 241.
*" Kicnv. R. nil. 26 Geo. II, ro. 313.
" llnd. nil. 26C;eo. lll,ro. 169.
'" Ihid.
m
1^^ 11 H
.V-2».
Cranford St. John's Church from the South
Cranford St. John's Church : The Interior, looking East
HUXLOE HUNDRED cranfordst. jomn
The church o( ST. JOHN consists o{
CHURCH chancel, 28 ft. 3 in. by 12 ft. 10 in.,
with north chapel and vestry, clear-
storied nave of three bays 38 ft. by 13 ft. 10 in.,
north and south aisles, north and south porches, and
west tower 8 ft. 6 in. square, all these mcisurcments
being internal. The north aisle is 1 1 ft. wide, the
south aisle 10 ft. 6 in., the width across nave and
aisles being 39 ft. 2 in. The chapel is structurally a
continuation of the north aisle, with the vestry at its
east end, and covers the chancel its full length. The
south aisle had been taken down
before Bridges' time (d. 1724), but was
rebuilt in 1842,*' and a south porch
added ; in 1880 the aisle was extended
eastward about half tlie length of the
chapel to form an organ chamber, and
the chancel restored. There was a
general restoration in 1887. Bridges,
at the beginning of the 1 8th century,
records that the stump of a spire was
then standing ; the spire had ' fallen
down some years ago ' and broken in
upon the roof of the church. It has
never been rebuilt.
The building throughout is of rub-
ble, with plain parapets, and the walls
are plastered internally. The chancel
has a high-pitched tiled roof, but the
roofs of the nave and aisles are leaded.
The nave arcades arc the oldest part
of the building, dating from the end of
the 1 2th century. The north arcade
consists of two wide round-headed
arches with a narrower and lower
one at the west end. The two eastern
arches were cut through the wall of an earlier church
and are of almost elliptical form, of two orders,
the outer square and the inner slightly chamfered,
springing from a cylindrical pier and from half-round
responds, with separate attached shafts carrying
the outer order. The circular moulded capitals of
pier and responds are elaborately carved with stiff-leaf
foliage in low relief, and the abaci follow the cross plan
of the arch orders ; the base of the pier is cut away.
The work dates from c. 1 190, and a few years later the
nave appears to have been extended westward by the
addition of the smaller*^ bay, the whole of the south
wall taken down, and an entirely new arcade con-
structed with a narrow and lower west bay to corre-
spond with that on the north. The added bay of the
north arcade has a round arch of two square orders on
plain corbels, and is of ironstone. The south arcade
is all of one build, with round arches of two orders
springing from piers and responds with richly carved
capitals similar to those opposite. The piers differ in
section, the eastern one being a plain cylinder and the
other a square with four attached shafts ; the responds
are similar to those on the north side.
As thus altered in the last years of the 1 2th century,
the church was not very much smaller than the present
building, with an aisled nave and a chancel somewhat
shorter than the existing one. The chancel was
rebuilt and lengthened in the course of the 13th cen-
tury, and the chapel added c. 1290. The tower
belongs to the earlier part of the 13th century, but
was heightened a century later (c. 1320), vviicn the
clearstory was added and the north aisle recon-
structed.
The chancel is substantially of the 13th century
with an east window of three trefoiled lights and
beautiful geometrical tracery, c. 1290. In the south
W.1II is an inserted 1 41)1 -century square-headed window
■ WI Cem URY m 1421 Cent.
a C.I190-1200 E] I51!J CtNT.
■1 13111 Century .□ Modern
inic.l290
Plan of St. John's Church, Cranford
of two trefoiled lights, and the north wall is pierced
at its west end by a late 13th-century arcade of two
chamfered arches on an octagonal pier and half-round
responds with moulded capitals and bases, opening to
the chapel.^^ On the south side there is a modern
arch to the organ chamber. The I3th-centur)
chancel arch is of two chamfered orders with hood,
the inner order on moulded corbels. The upper
steps of the rood-loft stair and the loft doorway
remain on the north side of the arch. The insertion
of the rood stair at the back of the north-east respond
weakened the chancel arch and a big buttress of two
stages was afterwards added within the aisle. Over
the south window of the chancel a panel inscribed
' I.L. 1692 ' probably indicates some repair or recon-
struction in that year.
The north aisle has two square-headed 14th-century
windows of two trefoiled lights, one on each side of
the porch, and there is a similar window in the north
wall of the chapel, but another of three lights further
east is a late 15th-century insertion. The north
doorway is modern. In the north aisle is a restored
wall recess with segmental chamfered arch.
There are three clearstory windows on each side,
the two outer ones being trefoiled openings within
curved triangular labels like those at St. Andrew's
" It wa« built by the Rev. Sir George
Robinson a» a memorial to two of
hii children, who died respectively in
1836 and 1841. The porch wai built
' to rcKmble a north porch recently
added ' : Chs. Archd. NorihampI, (1849),
'73-
" It is about 5 ft. 9 in. wide, the cattern
baji being about 13 ft.
*• The cast respond springs from a very
191
high and roughly moulded plinth. ' Each
kpring of the arches is higher thaa that
next to it to the west, though the points
of the arches are of the same height ' :
C')s. Archd. Nortbampt. 172.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
church, but the middle window on each side is a
traceried circle. On the south side the windows are
modern.
The tower is of two stages with a small west lancet.^'
and another higher up on the south side in the lofty
lower stage. The diagonal buttresses were probably
added in the 14th century when the upper story was
erected, the windows of which are of two trefoiled
lights with transom and quatrefoil in the head.
Immediately below the stepped battlemented parapet
is a band of paneUing, the design of which differs on
the four sides,^ and there are gargoyles at the angles
but no pinnacles. The 14th-century tower arch is of
three chamfered orders, the innermost on half-
octagonal responds with moulded capitals and bases.
There is no vice.
The font is of the 14th century, with a plain
octagonal bowl moulded on the under side ; it has a
flat 17th century cover.
The pulpit is modern, but worked into it are two
Renaissance carved panels of the same type as those
in St. Andrew's church, the subjects represented
being our Lord before the High Priest, and Pilate
washing his hands. There is an early 17th-century
low panelled chancel screen, and in the east window
is some 14th-century heraldic glass taken from one
of the windows of the chapel — (i) the leopards of
England, (ii) the arms of Bassingbourne, gyronny
of twelve argent and gules, (iii) the same with a
label of three points azure. In the window is also
some foreign glass with medallions, shields, figures,
etc., one piece of which is dated 1547, others being
of the 17th century similar in style to that at St.
Andrew's church.'*
There are no monuments. All the roofs are
modern or much restored.
There are six bells, a treble and tenor having been
added to a former ring of four in 1907 by Taylor &
Co. of Loughborough, who also recast the old third.
The second bell is by Hugh Watts II of Leicester
1629, the third by Thomas and John Eayre of Ket-
tering 1 71 7, and the fifth a recasting by Taylor in
1857 of a bell inscribed ' S. Katerina.'"
The plate consists of a cup and paten of 1569,
and a paten of c. 1682.^
The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i)
baptisms 1627-1753, marriages 1629-1752, burials
1627-1670; (ii) baptisms 1753-1812; (iii) burials
1679- 181 2; ('^0 marriages 1753-1812. There are
churchwardens' accounts beginning in 1755.
The advowson of the church of
ADVOWSOy St. John" was given before 1218 to
the Abbey of St. James, North-
ampton,** when the pension due to the abbey from
the rectory was already considered ' ancient,' but in
1240 it was claimed by Ralph de Cranford, who
obtained in return for a quitclaim of all right in the
advowson, the homage and service of one of the abbot's
tenants at Cranford.*' Before 1272 the advowson
came into the possession of the Bishop of Lincoln,*^
\,hose successors were the patrons of the living until
the 19th century, when the rectory of Cranford
St. John was consolidated with that of Cranford St.
Andrew and the bishop relinquished the advowson.*''
DENFORD
Deneforde (xi cent.) ; Deneford (xii, xiii, xiv cent.).
The parish of Dcnford lies on the eastern boundary
of the county. The land rises from the River Nene
eastward about 1 50 ft. The soil, which is a stiff
clay lying on the Great Oolite, Cornbrash and Oxford
Clay beds, produces barley, wheat and root crops.
The Kettering and Huntingdon branch of the London
Midland and Scottish Railway crosses the parish,
the nearest station being at Thrapston. There were
formerly brick and tile kilns which are now disused.
The village stands on the road from Chclvcston to
Thrapston and adjoins the eastern bank of the River
Nene. The church is on the northern side of the
village near the river. Not far from it is the Cock
Inn, a two-storied house which is dated 1593: except
for one or two muUioncd windows, it has no special
architectural features. Another house in the village
has a panel inscribed ' T.G. 1622.'
The parish was inclosed in 1765 but mention is
made in the award of previous inclosures.*
In the reign of Edward the Confessor,
MANORS Burred held 5 hides of land in Denford.=
In 10S6 he had been succeeded by the
Bishop of Coutances, but it seems clear that the
holding as described in Domesday Book included
much land in other townships.' In the 12th-century
survey, which was drawn up after the Bishop's fief
had escheated to the crown, Denford seems to have
been included under Ringstead and Cotton.'' By
1 1 24-9 the manor of Denford had come into the
possession of Gilbert Fitz Richard, whose wife
Adeliza de Claremont or Montmorency in 1147-68
is described as Lady of Denford. Roger de Clare,
c. 1 152, gave to St. Werburgh's, Chester, a mark
yearly from Rothwcll so that when God delivered to
him his inlieritancc of Denford he would assign a
'* A west doftrw.iy IhIuw the window
iniertrfi aliout 1X42, h.is been blocked.
" On the north alternate c]u.ilrcfoiIcd
K^uarri and circled, on the ftouth roiieB
tourn.Tnici, on the cant quatrefoilcd
circles, on the west four-leaved squares.
*' One is inscrilicd ' IIonora*"k Ian
Iavhin B)V»GmM~t Dt Visr ».t ANCNr.s
Ptup.u ION KsPKVSE,' nnuthcr has a
mutiLited inscription. Modern glass in
the east window with figures of St.
Andrew and .St. John commemorates the
union of the two rectories.
" North, Ch. Bdh oj Noiihiuils. 231;.
The old third (now fourth) was by Charles
Graye of Amplhill, 1661,
" Markhaiii, Cb. I'lalr 0/ A'orlhanls.
84.
" I'rct of !•'. Northanl). llil. 2}
Ucn. 111.
•° Rot. If. it Hrllei (Cant, and York
Soc), i, fi; ; ii, 221.
" I-cet of r. Northanls. llil. 24
Men. III.
" Rol. Rk. Cravcirn,! (Cant, and York
Soc), 120.
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 224 (cit. r.pi\
lUg.) ; instit. liks. (I'.R.O.), 1621, 1024,
i'i2i;, I'liS, if>37, 1640, i(ifi2, i'i;i), 1681,
•7<'4. '745. '75°. '752. lyf.;, 1774, 1S15.
In i^i^i Edward Mnuntagu presented
' pro hac vice ' and in t62t Thomai
I"rccnian presented.
' I'riv. Act. 5 Geo. Ill, c. 34; Recov
R. Trin. 6 Geo. Ill, Deeds enrolled,
m. 275.
' y.C.II. Noribanlt. i, 309*.
' Ibid.
* Ibid. 36511, 377a.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
DEN FORD
Clare. Or three cheve-
ront gules.
place there from which the rent should be taken.
Probably Adeliza his grandmother was then still
ahve. The manor* was apparently held of the honour
of Clare in 1242,* while in 1262 Richard, Earl of
Gloucester, died seised of
the overlordship there.' The
manor was afterwards held of
the Gloucester Fee in North-
amptonshire,* to which it still
belongs.
The first tenant in demesne
of whom record has been
found was Frumbold Denford,
who in the 12th century survey
appears as holding half a hide
of land in Cotton of the
fee of Denford.* In charters
of the same century, Walter son of Gilbert Denford
appears'" and he was succeeded by his son Gilbert
and grandson Walter, the latter of whom was living
in 1219." Shortly afterwards the manor was divided,
but the fact that the number of knights' fees in Den-
ford varies in different inquisitions on the Gloucester
lands makes its history difficult to trace. Probably,
however, the manor was held as one knight's fee and
the later moieties each as half a knight's fee.*^
In 1242 Walter Denford held half a fee of the
honour of Clare and was probably the mesne lord of the
other half fee.''' He was succeeded by Gilbert
Denford, whose heir was holding in 1262'* and may
possibly have been Joan the wife of William Sharde-
low, who was certainly the heiress of lands in Den-
ford at this time.'* She and her husband granted
lands in 1263 to Richard Trailly of Woodford'* and
in 1284 William Trailly is said to have held the town-
ship of Denford of the Earl of Gloucester." In 1285
the lands that had formerly been held by Walter and
Gilbert Denford had passed to William Trailly and
John de Tolthorp.'* It seems fairly clear that John
de Tolthorp held the half fee which Walter Denford
held in 1242, since in or before 1326 his widow Maud
died seised of a moiety of the manor of Denford, which
was held as half a knight's fee." Her heir was her
son Gilbert^" and his sons Gilbert and John both
seem to have succeeded him.^' John in 1353 quit-
claimed all his right in the manor to Sir Richard
Chamberlain,*' who also obtained the third part,
which Ehzabeth, the wife of Ralph Beauchamp, held
in dower.-' In 1373 John Chamberlain and his
wife Kathcrine, who seems to have had some right
in the manor, quitclaimed it to Sir Richard Cham-
berlain,'-' on whose death his son and heir Richard
assigned the manor to his mother Joan in dower.^*
She died seised in 1410 and it passed to her grandson,
another Richard Chamberlain,-* who granted it to
certain feoffees." In 1432 these feoffees granted it
to John Gryffyn and William Aldwinkle, who were
in seisin at the time of the death of Richard in 1439,^*
and of his son, a fourth Richard, in 1440.^' Aldwinkle
died before 1472, when his heir Thomas Lenton gave
a release of the manor to a fifth Richard Chamber-
lain.'* Another Richard, probably his son, died in
1496, leaving the manor in trust to be divided amongst
his three sons, with remainder to his daughter Anne."
The next tenant, however, who appears is John
Audlett, of Abingdon, Berks, who died seised of the
manor in 1537.'^ His heirs were first said to be his
cousins Ralph Edmunds and Margaret, wife of Ralph
Tomson.^ Edmunds sold his moiety to Katherine,
the widow of Audlett,'* and the Tom sons granted
their moiety to her for life in satisfaction of her
dower.'* Later, William Boiler, the true heir of
Audlett, appeared and sold the manor to Katherine
Audlett and her nephew Thomas Reade and his wife
Anne.'* After BoUer's death,
his daughter and heir Margaret
and her husband, William
Sergeant, tried to recover the
manor." An agreement, how-
ever, was reached in 1544 with
the Reades,'* whose descend-
ants retained possession of the
manor.'* In 1661 Corapton
Reade was created a baronet,'"'
but in the early years of the
l8th century the manor was
sold by Sir Thomas Reade to
Joseph Diston,*' who in 1719 resold it to Jeremiah
Sambrooke.*^ It afterwards passed to John Freeman,
who sold the manor in 1764 to Leonard Burton.*'
The trustees of Thomas Burton owned the manor in
1874,'** and Mr. Thomas Freeman and Mr. George
Keeble, J. P., are the chief landowners at the present
day.
The other half fee in Denford seems to have been
in the hands of Matthew the Butler in 1242,''* but
Reade. Gules a salrire
betzoeen Jour sheaves or.
' Farrer Honors and Knigbls' Fees, ii,
210-1 1. • Book of Fees, ii, 937.
' Bridges, Hist, of Noribanls. ii, 231,
cit. Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Hen. III. no.
34. The list of the Earl's Northampton-
ihire tees now appears to be lost.
• Chan. Inq. p.m. i Hen. V, no.
Exch. Dep. by Com. Northants.
II Jas. I, no. 15.
• y.C.H. Northanu. I, 377a.
'» Harl. Chart. 4S B. 25 and 26.
" Ibid. 50 A. 41.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Hen.
no. 34; ibid. 46 Edw. Ill (ist nos.)
no. 62 ; 18 Ric. II, no. 43 ; 22 Ric. II,
no. 46 ; 38 and 39 Hen. VI, no. 59 ;
Bk. of Fees, ii, 937 ; Feud. Aids, iv, 12, 49.
'• Bk. of Fees, ii, 937.
'♦ Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Hen. Ill, no.
34 ; Chron. Petrob. (Camden Soc.) 113.
" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 41;
Hen. HI.
■• Ibid. Trin. 47 Hen. III.
33 i
Hil.
Ill,
*' Feud. Aids, iv, 12. It seems possible
that William Trailly was the second hus-
band of Joan Shardelow ; cf. Feet of F.
Northants. East. 18 Edw. I.
'* Chron. Petrob. 113.
*• Cnl. Inq. vi, no. 621.
»» Plac. de Banco. Trin. 2 Edw. Ill,
m. 72d.
" Cal. Close, 1349-54, P- 616. " Ibid.
" Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 27
Edw. III.
" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 46
Edw. III.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. I Hen. V, no. 33.
" Ibid.
" Ibid. 17 Hen. VI, no. 31. " Ibid.
" Ibid. iS Hen. VI. no. 45 ; Early Chan.
Proc, bdlc. 18, no. 18. His heir was his
cousin William Rokeby, but he does not
seem to have obtained seisin.
w Close R. 1 1 Edw. IV, m. 5.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xi, 4.
•» Ibid. Ixxxii, 75. •• Ibid.
•* Feet of F. Northants, East. 29
Hen. VIII.
" Star Chamber Proc. Hen. VIII,
bdle. 17, no. 196.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), Ixii, 30 j
Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 30 Hen. VIII.
" Star Chamber Proc. Hen. VIII,
bdle. 17, no. 196.
»' Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 36
Hen. VIII.
" Feet of F. Northants. East. 30 Eliz. ;
Mich. 13 Chas. I; Trin. 34 Chas. II;
Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxc, 125 ;
Exch. Dep. by Com. Northants. Hil.
12 Jas. I, no. 15 ; Pat. R. 13 Jas. I, pt. 18;
Recov. R. Trin. 31 Chas. II, ro. 30.
*" G.E.C. Baronetage, iii, p. 172.
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 321.
*' Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 5 Geo. I.
♦> Ibid. East. 4 Geo. III.
** Whellan, Hist, of Northants. 1874,751.
" Feet of F. Northants. East. 26
Hen. III.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
bv the following year his heir or heirs had succeeded
him.^ His heirs possibly were Isolda, the wife of
Brian Denford'" and the wife of Ralph de Pulteney,
as in 1262 Brian and Ralph were tenants here of the
Earl of Gloucester.''*
In 1285 Ralph de Pulteney" was living, but in 1 3 14
he had been succeeded by William de Pulteney,'" and
in 1365 Isabella, daughter of William Pulteney, sold a
messuage and lands to Sir Richard Chamberlain Knt.''
Before 1425 a tenement called Pultpneys was in the
hands of Richard Chamberlain,'- who held the other
moiety of Denford (q.v.), and though he granted it to
Thomas Chamberlain and his wife Katherine, it
seems probable that from this time the Chamberlains
and their successors held the greater part at least of
Matthew the Butler's half fee.'^ Brian Denford's share
cannot be traced after 1285, when his son Robert had
succeeded him.*''
Another tenant of the Gloucester Fee in Denford
before 1240 was Simon de Berughby, whose wife
Alice** was possibly another heir of Matthew the
Butler. Alice de Berughby was holding in 1262,**
William and Hugh Berughby appear as tenants in
1285," and John and Robert Berughby in 1314.*'
This may be the manor in Denford which, though
not held in chief, is said to have been granted
in 1374 or 5 by Edward III to Robert Ward.*'
The latter, with his wife Emma, conveyed it in
1410 or II to Thomas Cantlowe," who granted
it to William Aldwinkle.'^ The latter by will left
it to his wife Elizabeth, who afterwards married
W'illiam Chaumbre*^ It seems, however, to have
been in the hands of trustees, who sold it in
1488 to John Selyman, the chaplain of the chantry
founded by Chaumbre in Aldwinkle church.*^ The
lands of the chantry seem to have been seized by
Henry \'I1I, who in 1546 granted the manor to Sir
Edward Montagu."
The Earls of Gloucester and their successors held
a court leet and view of frankpledge for their tenants
at Denford.** In 1616, Thomas Reade obtained a
grant of free warren in his manor of Denford.^
In 1086, two mills at Denford, paying [z los. Sd.
and 250 eels a year are mentioned, but it is not certain
that both were in Denford itself." A mill at Denford
is mentioned in the reign of Henry HI,*' and again
in 1537.**
A free-fishery in Denford was granted in 1545,
by William Burton and his wife Joan, and Margaret
Gale, widow, to Gilbert Pickering.™
The church of the HOLJ' TRINITT
CHURCH consists of chancel 31 ft. by 14 ft. 9 in.,
clcarstoried nave of four bays, 49 ft. 4 in.
by 21 ft. 6 in., north and south aisles each 10 ft. 6 in.
wide, south porch, and west tower 12 ft. 6 in. by
12 ft., surmounted by a spire. All these measure-
ments are internal.
The building belongs generally to the later part of
the 13th century, c. 1275-90, but the lower stage of
the tower and some other features appear to be rather
earlier, and it is, therefore, not unlikely that the
church was building during a rather protracted period,
extending over the latter half of the century. In the
14th century, new windows were inserted in the
south aisle, and the clearstory was added, but no
material alteration was effected in the plan. The
east window and two in the north aisle are 15th-
century insertions, and a window at the east end of
the south aisle is about a century later. Originally,
the north aisle extended some 20 ft. further eastward,
covering the chancel for more than half its length,
and forming a chapel with a vestry at its east end.
The church was restored in 1864, and in 1897 the
lower part of the tower, including the buttresses, was
newly faced and the spire restored. In 1925, the
east ends of both aisles were taken down and rebuilt,"
the north aisle roof renewed and the roof of the nave
repaired. The roofs are of low pitch, leaded to the
aisles, slated to the nave and chancel.
The chancel is built of grey stone with an iron-stone
band every fourth course, and has plain parapets
and chamfered plinth, but no string course. The
walls inside are plastered. The east window retains
13th-century moulded jambs and part of the early
rear arch has been re-used, but is otherwise of 15th
century date, of four trefoOed lights and Perpendicular
tracery. Two late 13th-century windows remain in
the south wall, one of three and the other of two lights,
with tracery formed by the forking and intersection
of the mullions. There is no window in the north
wall, but a doorway (now blocked) with a drop arch
and continuous roll moulding, led formerly into the
vestry, from which there was a squint to the chancel.
In the usual position on the south side is a rather
plain 13th-century piscina, the bowl of which has
been blocked. Originally the interior of the chancel
was surrounded with trefoiled arcading. Two arches
remain on the south side, and four on the north,
with excellent filleted roll-mouldings and soffit
cusping, on triple clustered shafts and single- shafted
responds. The shafts stand clear of the wall and
have moulded capitals and bases, and in the spandrels
on the north side are sculptured faces, a man's and
two women's. Of the northern arches, three are
placed beneath a relieving arch in the wall, and in the
tympanum thus formed, are four recesses, which
may have been intended for acoustic purposes.^''
The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the
*• Book of Feet, ii, 937.
♦' Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 31 Ilcn.
in.
*• Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Hen. Ill, nu. 34.
** Cbron. I'ctrob. 113.
" Cban. In<i. p.m. 8 Edw. II, no. 68.
»' Cott. Ch. (B.M.) jtxviii, 105.
»> Harl. Ch. (B.M.) 47 I. 29.
•• Cban. Idc|. p.m. 18 Ric. II, no. 43 ;
22 Ric. II, no. 46; 38 and 39 lien. VI,
no. 59.
** Chron. Petrob. 113.
" IVet of F. Northanti. Mich. 24
Hen III.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 47 Hen. Ill, no. 34.
•' Cbron. Petrob. 1 13.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. II, no. 62.
" Bridges, Uist. of Nortbanls. i), 231.
«" Ibid. •' Ibid. •' Ibid.
«• Cal.Pat. 1485-94, pp. 253,311.
" L. and P. Hen. fill, xxi (pt. ii),
g. 648(52).
*• Cal. Inij. iii, no. 371 ; iv, 435 ; Cat.
Pat. i343-45> P- 3'''' i '4o'-°5. P- 349;
Chan. Iruj. p.m. 36 Kdw. Ill, pt. i,no. 37 i
P.R.O. Court R. (gen. «er.) pif. 194, f. 49.
"Pat. R. 13 Jan. I,pt. 18.
•' y.C.ll. Northanti. i, 309^.
" Cott. Ch. xxviii, 74.
•• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), U«xii, 75.
"• Feet of F. Northanti. Mich.
37 Hen. VIII.
194
" The old materials were used and the
windows replaced. The fnnndaticms of
the original east end of tbo north aisle
were uncovered at this time : ex.
inform. Mr. H. F. 'IMylen, F.S.A.
architect. A considerable amount of
repair appears to have been done to the
north side of the chancel in the 18th
century, or perhaps earlier.
" The recesses were discovered in
1864 : one of them still contains an
earthenware pot, or acoustic jar. The
rubble face of the wall is here left
exposed. Sec An. Arcb. Soc. Reporti,
vii, 102 ; Bloxam, Gothic Arcb. (iitb ed.)
ii, 154.
Denford Church from the South-East
DhNKORl) ChLKLH : Tnh ImIRIOK. LOOKIM, EaST
HUXLOE HUNDRED
DENFORD
innermost carried on moulded corbels. There is
no screen.
The nave arcades spring from piers composed
of four attached shafts with moulded capitals, and
from half-octagonal responds. The arches are of
two chamfered orders. On the south side, the piers
have moulded bases, but not on the norlli. The door-
ways of the aisles are of the 13th century ; the northern
has a simple chamfer, the southern is of two chamfered
orders, the innermost on shafts with moulded capitals
and chamfered bases, the shafts being new. The
outer arch of the porch is of two chamfered orders
on imposts, with tooth ornament in the hood mould.
The windows of the aisles are of various dates. The
easternmost window in the soutli wall and the
The tower is of two stages with massive double
buttresses to half its height, and a vice in the south-
west angle. The lower stage is of rubble, and the
upper or bell-chamber story of dressed stone. The
west doorway is a modern 13th-century restoration,
but the tall lancet window above is original. The
north and south sides of the lower stage are blank,
and tlie bell-chamber stage sets back slightly. The
windows consist of two grouped trefoilcd lancets,
witli shafted jambs and moulded heads, with trefoil
opening above, set between two blind lancets, the
whole composition forming a triple arcade on each
side, covering the greater part of the wall surface.
The arch between the nave and tower is modern.
The spire belongs to a type sometimes known as timber
Scale of Feet
]3I!J Century
14 B Ceintury
1512 Century
161!! Century
ES Subsequent 4. Mod
Plan of Denford Church
westernmost in the north wall are of three lights
and have the late 13th century intersecting tracery
already described, and another at the east end of the
north wall has three gradated lancets under a single
arch with pierced spandrels. The west window
of the north aisle is blocked, and the two 15th-century
middle windows are of three trefoiled lights with
vertical tracery. In the south aisle, on either side
of the doorway, and at the west end, are rectangular
openings with excellent mouldings and tracery of
a late 14th century type, and the window at the
east end of the aisle is four-centred and of three
uncusped lights with vertical tracery. It appears
to be a 16th-century insertion, at which time probably
the east end of the north aisle was walled up, after
the disuse or removal of the chapel. The south
aisle appears to have been repaired at the end of the
14th century, as indicated by the character of the
square-headed windows, and the parapet has fine
gargoyles of this date. The clearstory windows
are square-headed and of two trefoiled lights, but
on the north side they were altered to plain single
openings probably in the 1 8th century, the old rear
arches being retained.
" Ac a parochial viucation held in the Thii, apparently, wai removed in 1864.
church 3 Juoe, 1718, according to an order The pretent Kone pulpit wai erected in
of the court there wit to be • new pulpit. 1926.
spires worked in masonry, and rises from behind a
plain parapet with angle pinnacles, carried on a
bold corbel table. The spire has ribbed angles, and
two sets of gabled lights on its cardinal faces. At
the level of the lower lights, it is ornamented with
bands and strings.
The font and pulpit" are modern. The roofs
also are modern throughout, but the corbels for the
wall-pieces and some fragments of the timbers appear
to be old. A bracket for an image remains in the
south-east corner of the south aisle. The east end
of the north aisle is screened off to form a vestry.
The organ is under the tower arch.
There are six bells, the first by Thomas Norris
of Stamford, 1629, the second by Robert Mott of
Whitechapel, 1581, and the others by Matthew and
Henry Bagley, of Chacomb, 1680.'^
The plate consists of a silver cup of c. 1570, a paten
inscribed ' Denford 1682,' and a cover paten of
c. 1700."
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) all
entries 1597-1613, 1618-38, 1654-73, (ii) all entries
1674-1718, (iii) all entries 1727-52, Isaptisms and
burials 1753-1812, (iv) marriages 1754-1812.
'* North, Cb. Belli of Nonbanit. 247,
where the iatcriptiona are given.
" Markham, Cb. Plate of SorthamU. 96.
195
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
The advowson of the church of
ADVOU'SON Denford appears to have been held
by Hugh, Earl of Chester," after the
forfeiture by the Bishop of Coutances. Before lioo,
the earl granted it to the abbey of St. Werburgh at
Chester." In 1394, it was obtained by Richard
(le Scrope), Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield,'" who
two years later appropriated it to his table, on con-
dition that a vicarage was ordained.'^ Before 1535,
the vicarage of Denford was united to the chapelry
of Ringstead.*" In 1551, Richard (Sampson), Bishop
of Coventry and Lichfield, leased the rectory and the
advowson of Denford for a hundred years at a rent
of ^18 to Nicholas Williamson of Kingsthorpe and
his wife Marj'.*' She married as her second husband,
John VVarde, and they were sued for the rent by
Bishop Thomas (Bentham).'- The property passed
to Bridgit, apparently the daughter and heir of
Nicholas, who married Thomas Williamson, presum-
ably her cousin.*' In 1588, Thomas and Bridgit,
together with their son Nicholas and his wife Anne,
sold the rectory to Lewis, Lord Mordaunt,** whose
descendants owned the advowson and rectory till
after 1681,*^ whether still as leaseholders of the
Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield or as freeholders
does not appear. They were probably sold after
the death of Henry, the last Earl of Peterborough, in
1697.*^ In 1720, the rectory was sold by William
Freina, clerk, and his wife Bridgit, Mary Cleter,
widow, and Stephen Ashby to Jeremiah Sambrook,*'
who had recently bought the manor (q.v.). He pre-
sented to the vicarage in 1752,** and both advowson
and rectory passed with the manor in 1764 to Leonard
Burton*' and his descendants.
Before 1874, Miss Leggatt was patron of the living."*'
In 1898 it belonged to S. G. Stopford Sackville of
Drayton House, Thrapston, and is now owned by
Mr. Nigel Stopford Sackville.
Church Estate. There is no docu-
CHARITIES mentary evidence of the origin of
this charity. The property consists of
meadowland containing about 4 acres and 4 cottages
with gardens, the whole producing ^^31 13^. yearly
which is applied to church expenses.
Three cottages and a garden situate in Pegg's Lane
were sold in 1916 and the proceeds invested in
;^2ll 10/. \d. 5 per cent. War Stock with the Official
Trustees of Charitable Funds. The dividends on
this sum are invested in augmentation of the
principal.
FINEDON
Tingdene, Thingdene (xi cent.) ; Thyngden, Tyn-
den (xiii cent.) ; Thynden (xiv cent.) ; Thingdon
(xvi cent.) ; Finedon (xviii cent.).
The parish of Finedon contains 3,541 acres of land.
It rises to a little over 300 ft. above the ordnance
datum from the River Ise which forms the western
boundary. The sub-soil is Upper Lias, and Great and
Inferior Oolite, the surface soil being clay producing
wheat and barley. The parish was formed into an
urban district in 1894 with a council of twelve
members. It was inclosed under a private Act of
Parliament.* The large village lies at the inter-
section of the roads from Wellingborough to Thrap-
ston and from Higham Ferrers to Kettering. It is
a somewhat uninteresting looking town of red-
brick houses, a red brick water tower on the Irth-
lingborough road being a prominent landmark.
The rectory house stands on the north-west of
the church and is a well-designed building of two
stories, faced with ironstone and roofed with CoUy-
weston slates, erected in 1688 by Roger Altham,
rector. A few late 17th or early 1 8th century
houses remain in the old part of the town, one of
them in Mulsho Square with a thatched roof, is dated
1693 and another in the same square is dated 1736.
In Church Street, the Charity School for girls is a
well-designed two- story house with slated roof erected
in 171 2, while the Gothic revival is represented by the
Almshouses in the same street, built in 1847 and by
the Bell Inn. At the west end of the town is the
Old Hall or manor house which was rebuilt about
1835,- and enlarged some twenty years later,' but it
incorporates on the north-west side some rooms
belonging to a former structure, which appears to
have been an Elizabethan house of only moderate size.
The existing mansion is a picturesque gabled building
of local yellow stone, with Weldon stone dressings.''
Iron-stone was formerly worked and the Finedon
Ironworks belonging to the Glendon Iron Ore
Company are now disused. The principal industry
at the present time is the manufacture of boots and
shoes. Finedon station on the London Midland and
Scottish Railway is two miles from the village in
Isham parish.
In the reign of Edward the Confessor,
MANORS Queen Edith held the great soke of
Finedon, which contained 27 hides of
land in six hundreds. In 1086 it was in the king's
hands and formed part of the ancient demesne of the
crown. Only 1 1 hides were in the later hundred of
Huxloc and a holding of 9J hides seems to represent
the manor of FINEDONfi In the 12th century
survey of the county, the king held 10 hides there.'
The men of Finedon in 1 388 successfully claimed that
'• Dugd.ilr, Man. Angl. ii, 385-6, cit.
Chart. R. 2 Ilea. V, pt. 1, m. 26.
" Ibid. ; Rol. Roll. Grotitleue (Cant.
• nd York Soc), 167 ; Rol. Ric. Gravestnd
(Cant, and York Soc), 126.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Ric. II, no. 80;
Cat. Pal. 1391-96, p. 516.
"Ibid. p. 686; 1399-1401, p. 51.1;
1413-16, p. 391.
•» Ta/or F.cd. (Rcc. Com), iv, 3 1 2.
•' Chan, Proc. (Srr. ii), bdlc. 35 (119).
•• Ibid. ; Walwr C. Metcalfe, f m.(. 0/
Nortbanli, 55.
" Ibid. ; Feet of V. Northants. Kast.
13 Eliz. ; Mil. 29 Eliz.
•« Tcct of F. Northants. Mil. 30 Elii.
■' Ch.TH. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii) cccix, 200;
Feet of F. Div Cob. 'Frin. 19 Jas. I ;
Rccov. R. nil. 19 Jas. I, ro. 40;
Initit. Bk». (I'.R.O.) 1648, 1677, 1681J
Feet of F. Northantj, Div. Cos. Uil 6
Geo. I.
«• G.E.C. Complrte Peerage.
" Feet of F. Norlh,iiil«. Mil. 6 Geo. I.
" Initit. Bk.. (P.R.O.).
196
'• Feet of F. NorthanU. East. 4
Geo. III.
•» Whellan, llisl. of Nonbanu. 1874, p.
75'-
' Priv. Act 45 Geo. Ill, c. 44. An
Incloiurc award of 1808 ii in the custody
of the vicar.
■ 'Fhis date is on one of the cliitnneys.
• The dates 1851, 1856, and 1859 occur
on parts of the house.
• A'orrAun/j.A'.iiiK/p. (NcwScr.),iv, 161.
• V.C.H. Nonbanu. i, 308a.
• Ibid, i, 3890.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
FINEDON
it was ancient demesne and proved their right to be
quit of toll throughout the kingdom.' The sokcmen
of the ancient demesne appear in a rental of the manor
in 1423." The manor apparently remained in the
crown until King John granted it in 1200 for life
at fee-farm to his clerk, Stephen de Clay,* who was
holding it in 1209.^" In I2i7it was granted to Thomas
which passed to their daughter DivorgiUa, the wife of
John Balliol.-" From her it went to John de Burgh,
grandson of the justiciar.'^' On his death in 1279,'" his
moiety was assigned to his eldest daughter, DivorgiUa,
the wife of Robert Fitz Walter, Lord Fitz Walter, who
in 1283 sub-infeudated their moiety of Finedon.-''
One quarter of the manor was granted to Ralph de
^S5. r
iBr^
M^,il4jd
FiNEDON : Church Porch
Malemains" and in 1218 to William Longsword,
Earl of Salisbury,^ who possibly retained it till his
death in 1226.'' At some time, however, it was
granted to the justiciar, Hubert de Burgh, but after
his outlawry,^* it was given to Stephen de Segrave
and his heirs. '* Stephen's son Gilbert was holding
the manor in 1234, when he was ordered to restore it
to Hubert de Burgh.*' In 1241 it was at farm to the
men of Finedon," but in the same year the manor
was granted in fee to William, son of William de
Forz, count of Aumale, and his wife Christina,
daughter and heir of the Earl of Chester, in part
compensation for her inheritance in the earldom.''
In 1246 they granted one moiety of the manor to
Richard de Bolebec,** but retained the other moiety,
' Cal. Close, 1385-89, p. 408.
• Add. Roll (B.M.) 38983.
• Chart. R. 1 John, pt. 4.9, m. 10.
'° Pipe R. 2 John, m. 4d ; 7 John,
m. 21 ; II John, m. i6d.
" Rol. Lin. Claus. (Rec. Com.), i,
32oi, 343*.
" Ibid, i, 364A, 368* ; Pipe R. 3
Hen. Ill, m. 7.
'" G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
'* Cat. Close, 1231-34, p. 567.
" Cal. Chari.i, 116.
" Cal. Close, 1231-34, p. 567.
" .hid. 1237-42, p. 307.
■» Cal. Chan, i, 262 ; Feet of F.
Div. Cos. 26 Hen. Ill, no. 55.
" Feet of F. Northante. East. 29
Hen. III.
'0 G.E.C. Complete Peerage (New Ed.) ;
Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.) 545.
•■ Ibid.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edw. I, no. 9.
In the inquisition of his lands, only the
advowson of Finedon is mentioned, but the
manor was mentioned at the time of the
redivision of his daughters' inheritance in
1282 {Cal. Close, 1279-88, p. 186).
" Cal. Close, 1279-88, p. 186 ; Feet of
Kirketon, who held it by the service of a quarter of a
knight's fee.2* He demised it to William Bernak,
probably only in settlement on Alice de Kirketon.^*
Alice may have been identical with Alice the wife of
John de Thorp, who jointly with her husband was
holding it in 1321.2' She granted it for his life to
John de Harwedon, who was the tenant in 1 334,"
but in 1 341 William de Thorp sold the reversion to
Simon Simeon of Grimsthorp.^*
The other quarter of the manor was granted by the
Fitz Walters in 1283 to Ralph Seymour, also for the
service due from a quarter of a knight's fee.^' In
1 3 10, however, the service had been changed to the
yearly gift of a pair of gilt spurs. ^^ Ralph died seised
in 1310^1 and alter the death of his widow Alice, who
F. Northants. East. 11 Edw. I; Plac. de
Quo h'arr. (Rec. Com.) 545.
" Ibid. ; Fit2 Walter's descendant,
the Earl of Sussex, held the overlordship
in 1609 (Chan. Inq. p.m. (ser. ii), cccvii
98).
«» Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 545.
" Cal. Itu/. Misc. Chan. ii. no. 445.
»' Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.
545 ; Feet of F. Northants. Trin.
13 Edw. III.
'* Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 15 Edw.
III. «• Ibid. East. II Edw. I.
» Cal. ;«j. V, no. 186. •' Ibid.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
held it for life,'^ it passed to his son Edmund.^
Lawrence Seymour was holding it in 1334^ presumably
DJ Burgh. Gules seven
lozenges voir.
DE FoRZ. Gules a cross
paty vair.
as a trustee for settlements made on Thomas Eey»
mour,^^ but the latter sold it in 1 348 to Simon
Simeon,^ who thus became possessed of the whole
moiety of the manor. He settled it jointly on himself
and his wife Elizabeth Neville.'' He died without
heirs,^ and Elizabeth brought the manor to her second
BoLBrc. Vert a lion
argen t.
FiTzwALTER. Orajesst
between two cbeverons
gules.
husband John la Warre,'' who died seised of it in
1398.'"* She had predeceased him, and his heir was his
brother Thomas,'" who seems to have sold the moiety
of Finedon manor between 1400 and 1405 to John
Mulsho ; ■»- at the same time Mulsho obtained a
quarter of the other moiety of the manor (q.v.). He
was succeeded by his son, who died in 1478, and his
grandson, who died in 1536, both named John.''*
Thomas, the grandson of the third John Mulsho,
succeeded him^' and bought the remainder of the
other moiety of Finedon manor (q.v.), which had been
alienated by the Count of Aumale in 1246** so that
from this time the whole manor was held by the
Mulshos. Thomas's eldest son, another Thomas, sold
the manor in 1604 to his brother Robert'* from whom
it passed in direct descent to William, Robert" and
Tanfield Mulsho.^ On Tanfield's death his heirs
were his daughters Anne and Elizabeth, who married
two brothers Gilbert and John Dolben, the sons of the
Mulsho. Ermine a bend
sable wt:b tbree goats*
beads razed argent wttb
horns or thereon.
Dolben. Sable a helm
betivcen three broad arroto
heads argent all pointing
inwards.
Archbishop of York, but Anne and Gilbert bought
Elizabeth's share.''* Gilbert was created a baronet in
1704^" and his successors were lords of the manor till
the death of Sir John English Dolben in 1837,^^
when it passed to his daughter Frances, the wife of
William Mackworth, who took the name of Dolben."^
She died in 1892, and the last owner of the manor was
her daughter Ellen Mackworth Dolben, on whose
death in 191 2, the whole estate was sold in separate
portions.^-*
The moiety of the manor of Finedon which Lord
FitzWalter and his wife granted in 1246 to Richard de
Bolbec was held by the annual payment of a pair of
gilt spurs.^'' On the death of Richard's son Hugh in or
before 1262, it was divided between Hugh's four
daughters and heirs, Philippa, the wife of Roger de
Lancaster, Margery, the wife of Nicholas Corbet,
Alice the wife of Walter, son of William de Hunter-
combe, and Maud who was then unmarried.''^
Philippa's eighth part of the manor passed on her
death before 1294 to her son John de Lancaster,^"
who was holding it in 1321.^' It was then held in
demesne by John, son of Robert de Lancaster,'* but
probably before 1327 it had passed to Robert de
Sandford.^' In 1342, Robert gave it to his son
Thomas and Margaret Spryng,^ but in 1367 Thomas
de Sandford sold it to Simon Symeon of Grimsthorp,"
and from that date it seems to have followed the
descent of the other moiety of the manor (q.v.) since
John Mulsho died seised in 1478 of one moiety and a
fourth part of the other moiety .*-
The eighth part assigned to Margery and Nicholas
" Teet of F. Div. Coi. Trin. 5 and 6
Edw. II ; Cal. Inq. Misc. Chan, ii,
no. 445.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 3 Edw. II, no. 20.
•' Ptac. de Quo Ifarr. (Rec. Com.), 54;.
" Feet of F. Div. Coi. Mich. 3 Edw. III.
" Ibid. Northanti. Eait. 21 Edw. III.
" Feet of F. Div. Coi. Trin. 30 Edw.
Ill ; Mich. I Ric. II i Cloie R. 9 Ric. II,
part I, m. 7.
•• Chan. Inq. p.m. 11 Ric. II, no. 48.
•• Cloic R,, 12 Ric. II, m. 38d. i
Feet of F. Div. Coi. Mil. 12 Ric. II.
*" Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 Ric. II, no. 53.
«' Ibid.
*■ Add. Chart. (B.M.) 22005 ; Feet of
F. Northanti. caie 179, file 90, no. 34;
Add. Roll (B.M.), 38983.
*• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii) xx, 101;
l»il. III. "Ibid.
" See above.
" Metcalfe, Fisil. of Noribants. 38,
116; Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 1 Jai. I ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccvii, 98.
" Mctcilfe, op. cit. 116.
*» Recov. R. Eait. 13 Chai. II, ro. 196;
Feet of F. Northanti. Trin. 25 Chai.
II ; Norihants. N. and Q. (New Ser.) iv,
166-8.
♦• Ibid. ; Feet of F. Northanti. Mich.
35 Chai. II.
»» r..E.C. Complete Baronetage.
"Ibid.; Recov. R. Trin. 6 Geo. I,
ro. 217; Feet of F. Div. Coi. Trin. 21
and 22 Geo. II ■, Recov. R. 42 Geo. Ill,
ro. 211.
"Whcllan, Hist, of Northanti, 1874,
p. 752 ; Norihants N. and Q. loc. cit.
" Ibid.
" Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 29
Ilcn. Ill ; riac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec.
Com.) 545.
" Cal. Inq. i, no. 528. In 1333/4 '"
a plea of Quo Warranto (cf. previoui note)
there ii a very full account of the deicent
of the manor, but the namci of Hugh'i
d.iughtcn are given as llawisia, Lora,
Cecilia and Joan. The names in the
inquisition appcir from otlier evidence to
be correct.
•• Cal. Inq. ili, no. 177.
*' Cal. Inq. Misc. Chan, ii, no. 445.
" Cal. Close, 1318-23, p. 289.
" i'lac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.),
54^ ; Plac. de Banco, no. 570.
•" Cal. Close, 1 341-43, p. 680.
" Feet of F. Northanti. East. 40 Edw,
III.
•' Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xx, 101 ;
Ivii, 112.
198
HUXLOE HUNDRED
FINEDON
CRtvaTocK. Barry ar-
gent and azure three
wreaths gules.
Corbet was granted to Robert Burnel, Bishop of
Bath and Wells,*^ presumably as trustee of a settlement
on Margery, daughter of Nicholas and wife of Ralph
fitz William of Greystock.*' The latter enfeoffed his
son Robert and his wife Elizabeth with all his lands in
Finedon.^ Robert died seised in 1315"' and his
widow was the tenant in 1 334.''' Their direct descen-
dants in the male line held this
part of Finedon till the death
of Ralph, Baron Greystock, in
1487.*" It then passed to his
granddaughter Elizabeth, who
married Thomas, Lord Dacre
of Gillesland.** The Dacres
seem to have sold or demised
it to James Harrington, who
brought an action for recovery
of the manor against Sir
William Dacre.'" Two years
later Harrington conveyed it
to Sir Robert BrudeneU." The
latter left it to his son Anthony,'- but it came into
possession of Sir Robert's eldest son and heir
Thomas,'^ who sold it in 1542 to Thomas Mulsho,''*
the lord of the other moiety of Finedon Manor (q.v.).
The share in the Bolcbec moiety of Finedon,
assigned to Alice, wife of Walter de Huntercombe,'*
was demised by them to Master Giles de Barinton,
who, presumably for his own life, granted it to
Robert Burnel, Bishop of Bath and Wells.'* The
latter died seised in 1292 and his heir was his nephew
Philip." Barinton was apparently holding it as
trustee for Amice de Shepey, possibly the daughter
of Alice de Huntercombe,'* and when Philip Burnel
died about 1294, except for a small holding," it
was in the hands of William de Shepey. In 1 321,
it had passed to John Poleyn and his wife Amice,*"
who had also come into seisin of the fourth and last
share of the moiety of Finedon manor (q.v.).
The youngest daughter of Richard Bolebec, Maud,
married Hugh de Laval, who after her death, gave her
pourparty, during his life-time, to Robert Burnel,
Bishopof Bathand Wells, who thus held a quarter of the
manor of Finedon.*' On the Bishop's death, it passed
to his nephew Philip Burnel.*'- Hugh de Laval died
about 1 301 and his wife's share passed to her nephew
John de Lancaster.*^ The latter, however, only held
as a mesne lord, as this share passed with the other
eighth share held by the Bishop to Amice de Shepey
and William de Shepey.** In 1321, the quarter part
of the manor had passed to John Poleyn and his wife
Amice,** who is said to have been the daughter of
Amice de Lacey,"' but she was presumably descended
from the Shcpeys. In I412, a lady Poleyn had a
rent of 10 marks in Finedon,*' but in 1415, the fourth
part of the manor had passed to Rose, the wife of
John Fish of Bishop's Hatfield.** Rose was a descendant
of the daughter of John and Amice Poleyn.*" In
1415, she and her husband sold it to William Sack-
ville."" A hundred years later, it is said to have been
in the hands of Thomas Sackville, who sold it about
15 15 to Michael or possibly, more correctly, to
Nicholas Boughton." In 1521, Edward, the son of
Nicholas Boughton, granted it to John Docwra and
Thomas Sackville."'- In 1569, Thomas Docwra and
his wife sold the quarter part of the manor to Thomas
Mulsho,^' who thus became lord of all the pourparties
of the manor of Finedon. It should be noted,
however, that in a Chancery case of 1533-38, John
Saby is said to have been lord of the manor of Fine-
don,"* while about 1542, Gabriel Shaller and Robert
Plante and his wife Margaret sold a quarter part of
the manor to William Franklin, who had been suc-
ceeded before 1 579 by his son Nicholas."^ What
right these tenants had in the manor does not
appear.
A manor called THINGDEN and BURTON
LATIMER may be traced in part to two holdings,
one of half a hide in Finedon and the other of one and
a half hides in Burton Latimer, which Burred held in
the time of Edward the Confessor.'* Burred also held
two hides and three virgates of land in Burton, but
whether these formed part of the later manor is not
certain."'
The three holdings passed to the Bishop of Cou-
tances,'* and the first two seem certainly to have
passed with much of his Northamptonshire land to
the Clares, as the manor was subsequently held by
knight's service of the Honour of Gloucester."" In
1086, the bishop's sub-tenant in the two small
holdings was named Richard.' In the Northampton-
shire survey, William de Houton held one and a half
hides in Burton,^ but the half hide in Finedon is not
mentioned. In 1222, Robert, son of Richard, granted
a messuage and 27 acres of land in Finedon and rents
from 7 virgates of land in Burton and Finedon to the
Abbot of Croxton in frankalmoin.^ In 1250, this
grant was confirmed by Richard, Earl of Gloucester.*
After the dissolution of theAbbey,Henry VIII granted
the manor of Thingden and Burton Latimer in 1539
•• Cal. Inq. vi, no. 51.
•« Ibid. ; Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec.
Com.), 545 ; G.E.C. Complete Pierage
itates that Ralph FitzWilliam was the
iccond husband of Margery Bolcbec, but
this does not »cem to be borne out by the
two documents mentioned.
•' Cal. Inq. vi, no. 51.
" Ibid. ; G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
•' Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 545.
•' Feetof F. Div. Cos. Hil. i8Edw. Ill ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. 48 Edw. Ill (ut nos),
no. 33 ; 6 Hen. V, no. 37 ; 14 Hen. VI,
no. 34; Harl. Chart (B.M.), 112 H 52 ;
G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
" Ibid.
'• Bridges, Hist, of Northants. cit.
Dolben papers, ii, 250. " Ibid.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), Hi, 64 ;
Fett of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 24 Hen. VIII.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), lii, 64.
"' Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 34
Hen. VIII.
" Cal. Inq. i, no. 528.
"• Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 545.
" Cal. Inq. iii, no. 65.
'• Amice may have been one of Robert
Burnel's illegitimate children, of whom he
had several.
" Ibid. no. 194.
" Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 545.
*' Ibid. ; Cal. Inq. iii, no. 65 \ iv,
no. 81.
" Ibid, iii, no. 65.
'" Ibid, iv, no. 81.
'* Ibid, iii, no. 194; Plac. de Quo Warr.
(Rec. Com.), 545.
" Cal. Close, 1 3 18-23, P- 189.
" V.C.H. Herts, iii, 63, 64.
" Feud. Aids, vi, 501.
199
«« Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 2
Hen. V.
" y.C.H. Herts, loc. cit.
'" Feet of F. Northants, Mich. 2 Hen.V.
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 258.
" Ibid.
•» Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 1 1 Elii.
'* Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 851, no. 20.
"■ Chan. Proc. (Ser. ii), bdle. 68, no. 24.
" y.C.H. Northants.u iio.
•' Ibid.
»« Ibid.
" Book of Fees, ii, p. 937 ; Chan. Inq.
p.m. 8 Edw. II, no. 68 ; 10 Ric. II, no 38 ;
4 Hen. IV, no. 4.
' y.C.H. Northants. i, 310.
» Ibid. 389.
• Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 6Hen. III.
* Nichols, Hist, of Leicester, ii, pt. t,
p. 156.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
to Thomas, Earl of Rutland, and his wife Elizabeth.'
In 1555, his son Henry, Earl of Rutland, sold it to
Richard Lambert, citizen and grocer of London,^ who
immediately re-sold it to Edward Jackman, a fellow
grocer.' In 1561, it was sold by Jackman to John
Isham* and in 1564 it passed to Richard Peacock.*
Peacock died in 1616, and the manor passed under a
settlement of 1604, to his cousin William Peacock,
who was succeeded in 1625 by his son Richard.^" The
latter sold it in 1659 to William Downhall,*' who with
his wife sold it in 1671'^ to Thomas Goodinge. It
mentioned in 1301'* and it seems, like the other privi-
leges, to have been divided amongst the holders of
the different parts of the manor. It is mentioned in
the various transfers of the manor and appears in
1720.-"
Three mills are mentioned in Domesday Book, but
presumably they were not all at Fincdon itself.-"- In
the 14th century there was apparently only one water-
mill, divided up similarly as the manor,^^ but in
1650 and 1661 3 water-mills and a windmill are men-
tioned.-'
^^..^.•^■>
1142! Century early
3MiD H-I!1Ci;ntury(cI350)
3 182! Century c Modern
Scale of Feet
Plan of Finedon Church
passed about 1673 to Tanfield Mulsho,*' the lord of
the main manor of Finedon (q.v.).
A market was held at Finedon at the end of the
13th century"'* and in 1 330, the holders of the various
pourparties of the manor claimed to have a view of
frank-pledge, a market every Thursday, thourtol, waif,
infangthief, together with gallows, tumbril and
pillory, for their tenants. The right of thourtol,
however, was recovered at this time by the Crown."*
In the early 1 8th century part of the gallows was
still standing." A grant of the right of free warren
in his demesne lands was made to Simon Simeon in
1386" and is mentioned in 1720.'* A free fishery is
The church of ST. MARV-THE-
CnURCn VIRGIN consists of chancel 51 ft. by
21 ft., north and south transeptal
chapels 31 ft. by 16 ft., clearstoried nave of four bays
80 ft. by 20 ft. 6 in., north and south aisles about
14 ft. 6 in. wide,^'' south porch, and west tower
14 ft. 10 in. by 13 ft. 6 in., all tlicse measurements
being internal. The tower is surmounted by a lofty
spire and the porch has an upper story. There is a
modern vestry on the north side of the chancel.
Of the original 12th-century building nothing re-
mains except the font, the church having been entirely
rebuilt at the beginning of the 14th century. With
» L. and P. lien.
g*5'(43)-
yjll, xiv,
Mil. )
pt. 1
and
• Veet of F. Northanli.
Ph. and Mary.
' Ibid. Trin. 1 and 2 Ph. and Mar;.
• Ibid. Eait. 3 F.Iir..
• Ibid. .Mich. 6 and 7 Elii.
'• Chan. Inf|. p.m. (Scr. ii), ccccv,
•57-
" Fe<rt of F. Northanti. Mil. 1659.
"Ibid. Mil. 21 .ind 22 Chai. II.
" Exch. Dcp. by Com. Northants,
Mich. 27 Chaj. II, no. 18.
"Cat. Jnj. iv, no. 81; Cal. Pat.
1317-21, p. 255.
" Pliu. de Quo Il'arr. (Rcc. Com.) 545.
" Ilriilj;c», /Int. of NoTlhanti, ii, 256;
cf. Feet of F. North.iiits. Mich. 35 Chai. II.
" Cal. Chart, v, 304.
'" Rfcov. R. Trin. 6 Geo. I, ro. 217.
" Cal. Inij. iv, no. 81.
•» Recov. R. Trin. 6 Geo. I, ro. 217.
200
«' V.C.U. Noribants. i, p. 308a.
"Cal. Pat. 1317-21, p. 285; Chan.
Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), lii, 64 ; Cal. Inq.
iv. no. 81 ; Feet of F. Northanti.
Trin. 1 1 Eliz.
" Recov. R. Eait. 1650, ro. 91 ; ibid.
Eadt. 13 Cbas II, ro. 196.
'* The aislci arc of «nci|ual wi(Uh
throughout, the north aisle beini? wider at
the west end, and the south aiale at the
eait.
FiNEDON Church from the West
w
h
X
U
h
X
O
HUXLOE HUNDRED
FINEDON
the exception of the tower and spire it is all of one
date, and is one of the finest examples in the county
of a church of this period." The tower and spire
were erected about fifty years later, perhaps shortly
after the appropriation of the church to Croxton
Abbey. The whole building is therefore substantially
of one style and it preserves a unity in design which
gives it particular distinction.
The church is built largely of dark local ironstone,
but internally a contrast of colour is obtained by the
use also of light freestone. All the roofs arc leaded
and of low pitch behind battlemented parapets, except
those of the chancel, which are plain. Internally the
walls are plastered. The vestry was built in 1841 on
the site of one long destroyed and the church was
extensively restored a few years later.
The windows are of two main types : those of the
chancel and nave and the end window of the south
transept have uncusped elongated reticular tracery,
while those of the north transept and the side windows
of the south transept are composed of three acutely
pointed uncusped lights, or gradated lancets, under
a single arch, with pierced spandrels. All these
windows, with the exception of the east window of
the chancel, are of three lights with ogee heads and
hood moulds, those in the chancel and transepts
being in addition richly moulded and with internal
shafted jambs.^* In the nave the jambs have a double
hollow chamfer only.
The chancel is divided into three bays by boldly
projecting buttresses, and was planned to carry a
vaulted roof. The springing of the ribs remains in
the corners, but the vault seems not to have been
executed.'^' The five-light east window has un-
cusped reticulated tracery similar to that in the other
windows, but with a circle in the head, and the
double jamb shafts have foliated capitals. In the
eastern bay the south window has been blocked, and
on the north the wall was covered by a vestry, the
doorway to which remains, as well as a piscina and
aumbry now within the modern vestry. The two
western bays are lighted by windows on each side,
the jambshafts of which, except in three instances,
have carved capitals. In the usual position in the
south wall are a rectangular aumbry, piscina, and
triple sedilia, exposed during the restoration,^' the
piscina and sedilia forming a single composition of
four arches. The inner wall arcades of the sedilia,
on triple attached shafts with moulded bases and
carved capitals, remain, but the front arcade and
canopies have been cut away.^' The priest's door-
way, in the middle bay, is blocked, and further west
is a large shallow recess, with a pointed arch on clus-
tered shafts, probably the rear arch of a low-side
window,*" the opening of which no longer is visible
on the outside."- The chancel arch is of two moulded
orders on triple shafts, tlie capitals of which are
richly carved with naturalistic foliage. A burial vault
vv.is made under the cast end of the chancel about
1710.^'-
Thc nave arcades have arches of two moulded
orders on piers composed of four shafts with hollows
between and responds of similar character all with
moulded capitals and bases and standing on massive
square plinths of three courses of masonry.^^ The
two eastern piers are increased in diameter from
north to south, being planned to receive the spring
of transverse arches between the aisles and transepts.
Their inner faces differ but slightly from the piers
further west, but towards the aisle the soutliern pier
is elongated by the addition of three smaller shafts,
and its capital is finely carved with naturalistic foliage
like that of the chancel arch. The north pier is simi-
larly planned, but differs in detail, and the capital
has been rebuilt. The transverse arches are of two
moulded orders similar to those of the nave arcades,
and spring from shafted responds against the aisle
walls.
In course of time, the transverse arches came
to exercise strong outward pressure, against which
the supporting piers proved inadequate and the
expedient of a strainer arch across the nave wa»
adopted. The arch appears to be of early 15th cen-
tury date, or of the last years of the 14th century,
and consists of a moulded segmental pointed lower
arch, springing from the capitals of the greater piers,
with an upper single-centred segmental inverted
arch resting upon it. The spandrels are filled with
large traceried circles and elongated quatrefoils,
and the inverted arch is richly decorated with a band
of pierced quatrefoiled circles between embattled
mouldings, the whole producing a very striking and
characteristic effect, combining grace with strength.
The transepts project 16 ft. beyond the aisles and
have two windows in the east wall, and one in the
end and west waOs. The south transept has coupled
buttresses of four stages, but on the north the
buttresses are set diagonially, as also those of the
porch. There is a rood stair turret north of the
chancel arch, the doorway to which from the transept
is now blocked, a new one having been made outside ;
the turret stair occupies the angle of the transept
and chancel, and gives access to the roofs. There is
a rectangular aumbry in the east wall of the north
transept, but no other ancient ritual arrangements
remain west of the chancel. A moulded string runs
all round the church at sill level inside. There are
eight clearstory windows on each side, of two-
lights with ogee heads.
The north and south doorways are in the second
bay from the west, and have continuous mouldings.
The porch is vaulted and has an outer doorway of
** A resemblance between the windowi
at the west end of Acton Burnell church,
Salop, built by Bishop Burnell before 1290,
and those of the transept! at Finedon, hat
led to the surmise that the rebuilding of
Finedon church may be due to the
Bishop's nephew and successor Philip
Burnell, and that he may have inherited
his uncle's munificence and taste in archi-
tecture. G. A. Poole in Cbs. Arcbd.
Nortbampi. 141.
** Except the west window of the south
transept, which has moulded jambs only,
the shafts are of octagonal section and have
moulded (or carved) capitals and bases.
" The plaster has been removed in part
from the north and south walls in order
to show the line of the wall ribs.
" On the removal of the painted deal
wainscot which lined the whole of the
chancel walls. Bridges says there were
'long forms on each side adjoining to the
wainscot.' There was also a ' high
rcrcdo! which concealed more than half
the east window ' : Cbi. Arcbd. Norlhampt.
140.
201
" Probably when the wainscotting wai
erected.
'" An. Arch. Soc. Reps, xxix, 41 1.
" The external arch had been removed
by the rector before the restoration, and
used in the stair tuiret of the porch.
" Bridges, Hut. oj Northanis, ii, 260.
First used for the burial of John Dolben,
son of the Archbishop of York, who died
29 May, 17 10.
•• The plinths measure 4 ft. by 3 ft.
10 in. OD plan.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
three moulded orders, the two inner springing from
attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases.
The chamber over measures internally 1 1 ft. 3 in.
by 9 ft. 6 in., and is lighted on the south by a tran-
somed window of two trefoiled lights with quatrefoil
in the head, and there was also a window, now blocked,
at the north end opening to the church. The original
stairway from the aisle is blocked, access to the cham-
ber being by an external stair turret at the north-east
corner, added in 1794,^ the doorway to which, as
already stated, was removed from the chancel and
placed here about 1841. The porch chamber contains
a collection of about a thousand books given to the
church in 1788 by Sir John Dolben.^
The tower is of four stages, with moulded plinth
and coupled buttresses well set back from the angles
and finishes with a battlemented parapet, the height
to the top of which is 76 ft. There is a vice in the
north-west corner. The tower was built clear of
the church and afterwards joined up to the nave,
the length of which was thus extended by about 5 ft.
The west doorway has continuous mouldings and
ogee crocketed hoodmould, flanked by pinnacles,
and above it is a three-light window with reticulated
tracery. The two lower stages are blank on the north
and south sides, but in the third stage is a window
of two trefoiled lights with quatrefoil in the head,
breaking an ornamental panelled band composed
of trefoiled triangles arranged alternately with the
base and apex uppermost. The bell-chamber stage
is slightly recessed, the angles of the tower above
the buttresses forming plain pilasters. The lofty
double windows are of two trefoiled lights with a
quatrefoil in the head and have separate hoods ; above
them is a row of quatrefoils, and an elaborate trefoiled
corbel table supporting the parapet. The spire is
133 ft. high above the ground, and has ribbed angles
and two sets of lights on each of the cardinal faces.
It was rebuilt in 1897. The tower arch is of two
chamfered orders which die into the wall.
The 12th-century sculptured font has already been
described.^'
Before the restoration in 1848, the nave and aisles
were filled with oak seats of late 15th or early l6th
century date, with tracery panelled ends and original
doors of the same character. A number of these
still remain, but all the doors have disappeared.
The organ is in a west gallery ; it was originally
built for tiiis position by Christopher Shrider at
the cost of Dr. Dolben in 1717, and the handsome case
remains unaltered.
The lower part of a stone chancel screen remains,
but it was so extensively restored in 1858 as to be
practically of that date. The upper or ' ornamental
portion ' was destroyed in 1848.'"
Painted on the plaster of the north wall of the
tower is the name ' William Clifton clarke and sixston
1686,' and six other names.
There are eight bells, two trebles having been added
in 1897 to a former ring of six ; five of these were
recast by Gillett and Johnson, of Croydon, in 191 3.
The tenor is by Taylor and Co., of Loughborough,
1875.38
The plate consists of a silver-gilt cup, cover paten,
flagon and breadholder of 1683. There are also a
mother of pearl christening bowl and alms-dish pre-
sented by Sir John English Dolben, bart. ; the sides
of the bowl are formed of curved sections riveted
together and enclosed by a metal rim, and the dish
is of the same character. Both appear to be of foreign
workmanship.^'
The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i)
baptisms (November) 1538-1708, marriages (May)
1539-1705, burials (November) 1538-1678; (ii) bap-
tisms and marriages 1695-1728, burials 1678-1728;
(iii) baptisms 1729-1785, marriages 1729-1753;
burials 1729-1784; (iv) marriages 1754-1812; (v)
baptisms and burials 1785-1812.
There are churchwardens' accounts 1653-82,
1732-84, and 1825-32.
A lychgate was erected in 1888.
The advowson of the church of
ADVOWSON Finedon was apparently held by
the king^" until 1 241, when it was
granted with the manor to William de Forz and
his wife Christina.*' It passed to John de Burgh,
who presented to the rectory in 1262,''- but after his
death his daughters and their husbands exchanged
it in 1280 with the king for lands in Somerset.*'' In
1339, Edward III granted it to the Abbey of St.
Michael at Antwerp, in consideration of the long
residence of the king and queen and the birth of the
king's son Lionel there. '^ In 1346 the abbot obtained
licence to assign the advowson in frankalmoin to
the Abbey of Croxton, which, like Antwerp, belonged
to the Premonstratensian order.''^
Leave to institute a vicarage was obtained from
Pope Clement VI in 1347, 15 marks a year being
assigned to the vicar.'*
After the dissolution of Croxton Abbey, the rectory
and advowson of the vicarage were held by the lord
of the manor of Thingdcn and Burton Latimer (q.v.),
till after 1805.*' In 1810 the advowson of the
vicarage was in the possession of Samuel W. Paul**
and in 1874 of the Rev. George Woodfield PjuI.
It was purchased about 1895 by Miss Mackworth
Dolben from Canon Paul and presented by her to
the Bishop of Peterborough, who is now patron of the
living.**
A chantry was founded by William Aston, but no
date is recorded, for a priest to sing mass in the church
of Thingdcn. He received a pension of 7 marks a
•* The date it cut on a itone iniidc the
itaircaie.
•* It includn a copy of the great Bible
printed in 1541 by Edward Whitchurch.
•• y.C.II. Northanti. ii, 194.
^ Cbt. Arch. Sortbampt. (1S49), 139.
The upper portion ii ihown in the view
of Che interior of the church.
"The old tenor wat dated 1613.
The five belli recast in 1913 dated from
1815. North, Ch. Belli cf Norlhanli. 270.
'• Markham, Cb. Plan of Nonbantt.
115.
*" Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com), p. 192*;
Rot. Lilt. Pat. i, p. 103 ; Cal. Pal.
1216-25, p. 29; Rot. Roht. Groisrtestt
(Cant, and York Soc), 221.
" Cal. Chart.R.i,p.i6i.
" Rot. Rtc. Gravetend (Cant, and York
Soc), loi.
*• Feet of F. Dlv. Coi. Trin. 9 Edw. I ;
Cal. Pal. 1292-1301, p. 234; 1317-21,
P-79; HJUmo, P- 117-
" Ibid. 133S-40, pp. 313, 404.
"Cal. Pal. 1345-48, p. 157 J Valor
F.ccl. (Rec. Com.)iv, p. 311.
202
•• Cal. Papal Pelitioni, 1 342-1419,
p. 128 ; Cal. Pat. 1350-54, p. 18.
" /.. and P. Urn. till, xiv, pt. i,
g. 651 (43); Feet of F. North.mis. Ilil.
I and 2 Ph. and Mary ; ibid. Trin. 1 and 2
Ph. and Mary; ibid. Eait. 3 Eliz. ;
ibid. Mich. 6 and 7 Eliz. \ ibid. Ilil.
1659; ibid. Mich. 3 Jai. II; Initit.
Bk«. (P.R.O.) 1615, 1684, 1688, 1757,
1785; Priv./lctofParl.^^ Go. III,c. 44.
♦« Inntit. Bki. (P.R.O.) 1810.
♦• Whellan, //»(. 0/ Norlhanli. 1874, p.
752 ; inf. from Rev. A. C. Bagthaw.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
year. In 1549, at the dissolution of tlic chantries,
John Cotton, M.A., the incumbent, was stated to be
well-learned and a preacher, who taught the children
of the parish.^ Tlie chantry lands seem to have been
confiscated, but in 1597 Richard Walter obtained
licence to found a free school at Finedon.^'
The Friends' Meeting House was founded in 1690,
and there are also Wesleyan and Wesleyan Reformed
chapels in the parish.
The Church Land. — By an award
CHARITIES pursuant to the Parish Indosure
Act of 1805, land containing nearly
35 acres was awarded to the vicar and churchwardens
for the parish church. The land was sold in 1916
and the proceeds invested in ^^2,894 is. id. Consols
producing (ji js. yearly in dividends.
The Parish Clerk's Charity is regulated by a
scheme of 27 June, 1916. The property originally
consisted of nearly an acre of land known as the
Clerk's Close. This was sold in 1916 and the proceeds
were invested in £"]! os. lid. Consols producing
£1 l6s. in dividends. The income is payable to the
parish clerk, or if there is no clerk, to the verger or
person performing the clerk's duties.
The parochial charities are administered by the
vicar and churchwardens and 5 other trustees in con-
formity with the provisions of a scheme of the Charity
Commissioners dated 25 Oct., 1878. They comprise :
The charity of Thomas Harvey, given in 13 Eliza-
beth.
The charity of Mary Mulso, founded in 1677.
Joan Mulso, who died in 1636, by her will gave 40/.
a year to the poor. This charge is paid out of land
in Finedon belonging to the Ebbw \'ale Iron Co.
Deborah Hampton by her will in 1725 gave 16 acres
of land with a messuage and premises for the main-
tenance of a poor maiden.
Mrs. Catherine Whitelock by her will left X'°°
for the poor to be paid after the decease of her sister,
which happened in 1813. This gift was augmented
by a sum of ^^20 given by Mrs. Frances Dolben and
the two sums were invested in 3 per cent. Annuities.
The property now consists of £l^S ¥■ ^'- Consols.
Mrs. Elizabeth Whitworth by her will dated
28 May, 1810, gave a sum of ^^l is. yearly to be paid
out of her land in Finedon to be laid out in the pur-
chase of two gowns to be given to the two most
aged, infirm and necessitous virgins and if no virgins,
to two widows.
Juliana Dolben. Will dated I June, 1863. The
property consists of £()(>6 ip. \d. Consols.
GRAFTON
UNDERWOOD
The gifts of Thomas Harvey and Mary Mulso
were invested in about 29 acres of arable land with
3 cottages in Church Street. This land, together
with the land belonging to Deborah Hampton's
Charity, was sold in 1916 and tlie proceeds invested
in j^3,6io 14J. lod. Consols. The 3 cottages were sold
in 1924 for ;^I30. Of this ;^I07 11;. was spent in
repairs to the cottage occupied by the Hampton
pensioner and the residue invested in £'i'i Is. %d.
Consols. By an order of the Charity Commissioners
dated 20 March, 1925, ;{^400 Consols was placed
to an investment account to replace the cash
expended.
The income amounts to ^£104 i is. yearly. In 1924
^20 ()s. was paid to the Hampton pensioner, ^^64 lis,
was distributed in cash to 165 recipients, and dona-
tions of ;^I0 were made to the Northampton Hospital
and the Finedon Nursing Association.
Juliana Dolben, before-mentioned, by her will gave
£10 Consols to the vicar and churchwardens upon
trust that the income should be applied in giving a
dinner and tea and 6d. each to 12 poor inhabitants.
The charity of Ellen Frances Julia Mackworth
Dolben, founded by her will proved in Peterborough
Registry, 20 September, 191 2, is regulated by a
scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 21 April,
1914. The charity is administered by the vicar
and the endowment consists of 50 shares of £l
each in the Finedon Gas Co. The interest, which
amounted to ^^24 7/. lod. in 1924, is applied in
supplying milk, eggs and medical comforts to the
sick poor. There were 46 beneficiaries in 1924.
The Wesleyan Chapel and Trust Property is com-
prised in indentures of 20 November 1822, 10 and 11
April, 1838, and 28 February, 1849, and the property
is vested in a body of trustees appointed by order
of the Charity Commissioners dated 8 October,
1889.
The Independent Chapel and Trust Property,
whereof trustees were appointed by order of the
Charity Commissioners, dated 23 August, 1895, is
comprised in indenture of 22 November, 1752, will
of George Wallis dated 11 June, 1755, will of John
Carver dated 29 April, 1796, and indenture of 11 June,
1 85 1. The property consists of the chapel and
2 cottages and a yard in High Street and I r. 27 p. of
land in Orchard Road, producing £2^ 18/. id. yearly.
The income is applied towards the repairs of the
chapel.
The several sums of stock are with the Official
Trustees of Charitable Funds.
GRAFTON UNDERWOOD
Grastone (xi cent.), Grafton (xii, xvii cent.),
Grafton Underwood (xviii cent.).
The parish of Grafton Underwood contains
1,825 seres. It lies for the most part between 250 ft.
and 350 ft. above the ordnance datum. The sub-
soil is Great Oolite, the upper soil being clay and
gravel growing wheat and oats. There is a consider-
able amount of woodland in the northern part of the
parish belonging originally to Rockingham Forest,
•• Chantry Ctrtif. 35, no. 15 ; I'alor Eccl. (Rec. Com.) iv, Jii.
*^ Col. S.P. Dom. 1595-97, P- 35J-
from which the name of Underwood is derived. The
chief woods are Grafton Park Wood, Old Head Wood,
Freier Wood, besides Kirtly Coppice.
The village stands on the by-road from Cranford
to Brigstock. There still remain a few 17th-century
thatched stone houses. The Duke's Arms Inn is
dated 1645, and a gabled house in the main street
1653 ; on a barn adjoining the latter is a panel in-
scribed ' R.B. 1676.' A stream runs through the
village. The nearest railway station is at Cranford
on the Kettering and Cambridge branch of the London
Midland and Scottish Railway, 2i miles from the
203
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
village. The parish was inclosed in 1777, by a
private Act of Parliament.^
In the time of Edward the Confessor,
MANORS Achi held the manor of GRAFTON
or GRAFTON UNDERWOOD freely .2
After the Norman Conquest it was given to Robert
Albus, who was the tenant in 1086, his three hides
of land being held by a sub-tenant named Roger.'
Another holding of half a hide is mentioned in Domes-
day Book, when it was held by Agemund of Eustace
the sheriff.* Both holdings apparently were granted
early in the next reign to Richard de Humez,^ who
was succeeded by his son William, constable of
Normandy.* The latter's lands escheated to the
Crown' and in 1205 Grafton was granted to Philip
of Worcester.* In 1217 the manor was granted to
Ralph de St. Sampson.^ At his death about 1248,
it passed to his daughters and heirs, Brunna, the wife
of Simon Maufe, and Joan, the wife of William
de la Bruere.i" The manor, which was held of the
king by the serjeanty of keeping a white brachet with
red ears,'^^ was divided into two moieties at this
time. Brunna's moiety passed to her daughter Joan,
wife of Alan de Chartres.^^ Her son Roger and his
wife obtained licence in 1335 to grant the manor to
his son Peter,!' jj^j jjj j^^j jj^gy jointly sold it to
Simon Simeon,^* who settled it on himself and his
wife Elizabeth Neville.*^ After his death, she married
Sir John la Warre and in 1389 it was settled on them
and their direct heirs, but both died without children
and it presumably passed in 1398 to Thomas la Warre,
his brother and heir ;i' its later history does not appear,
but it seems probable that it came into the possession
of the tenantsof the other moiety of the manor (q.v.).
Joan, the other co-heir of Ralph de St. Sampson,
and William de la Bruere sold her moiety to William
de Lisle and his wife Mabel in or before 1253."
William subinfeudated the manor and owing to the
subtenant William Hanred being convicted of felony,
the mesne lordship seems to have been lost, although
in 1330 John, the grandson of William de Lisle, tried
to recover the moiety of the manor.'*
In 1266, William de Lisle granted it to Richard
Hanred and his heirs,'' but Richard appears to have
granted it to Robert le Baud before 1284.-" His son
William Hanred was hanged for felony in 1295^' and
the king entered the moiety of Grafton manor and
granted it for life, at a rent of ^^lo a year, to Thomas
Brown, although the Crown should only have held
it for a year and a day.^^ In 131 1 Simon le Baud, pos-
sibly che successor of Robert le Baud, obtained licence
to grant in fee to Thomas Brown, a mill, land and rents
in Grafton-' and Brown had licence to grant the same
premises to John le Bole.-'' In 1313, the rent of /^lo
was granted to Jakinet de Mareygny, in reward for
his good services^* and after the death of Brown, the
moiety of the manor was jIso in 1317 granted for life
to Jakinet.28 On his death about 1328, the rent of
£\o was granted for life to Owen Corder.-' In 1316,
however, Thomas Brown had obtained leave to grant
7 messuages, a mill, 4 virgates and 8 acres of land
and certain rents to John Seymour and liis wife
Maud.2* This probably represented the moiety of
the manor. John died seised in 1340 and his widow
held the lands for her life.^' They passed to their
son John Seymour^ and their grandson, another
John Seymour held the manor in 1 362.'' He died seised
of rents in Grafton in 1363, which passed to his
brother and heir Thomas,'^ who was the tenant of
the manor of Grafton in 1397." In that year, he
settled the manor on himself for life with remainder
to Thomas Greene, son of Sir Henry Greene, knt.
The final remainder was to Sir Henry Greene and
his wife Maud and the right heirs of Maud, which
suggests that she was the heir of Thomas Seymour.
Thomas Greene apparently died without children
and the manor passed to his brother John, who was
mentioned in the settlement of 1397.**
In 1450, it was held by Henry Greene of Drayton,
the son of John.'* His daughter and heir Constance,
the wife of John Stafford, son of Humphrey, Duke of
Buckingham, made a settlement of the manor in
1469.'* Their son Edward, Earl of Wiltshire, died
leaving no children and the Greene property passed
to the three surviving daughters and heiresses of
Sir Henry Vere, a nephew of Henry Greene." The
eldest daughter Elizabeth married John, first Lord
Mordaunt,'* and their descendants obtained, as at
Great Addington (q.v.), all three parts of the manor of
Grafton." John Mordaunt, the first Karl of Peter-
borough, died seised of the manor of Grafton Under-
wood in 1644,'"' but it was apparently sold to Sir John
Robinson in the latter part of the 17th century. Sir
John died before 1708, leaving two daughters and
' 17 Ceo. III. c. 107.
» V.C.H. Noribantt. i, 336*.
• Ibid.
• Ibid. 350a.
• Ibid. 389*.
• Red Bk. ojf Exchfq. (Roll. Ser.) 129,
172; Rol. Lill. Claui. (Rcc. Com.), i,
345* i ^0/. CAar J. (Rtc. Com.) 160.
' Rol. Lill. Claui. (Rcc. Com.) i, 345*.
• Ibid. 57*, 345*.
• Ibid. 345*, 392*. In 1228 a further
grant wai made, by which Ralph was to
hold Grafton freely until the king might
reitore it to the hciri of William de
Humez or until a peace wai made
{Col. Chan. 1226-57, p. 86.)
'• Cat. Chan. 1226-57, p. 432 ; Bridge*,
//ill. Norihanli. ii, 233.
" Fiud. Aidi, iv, 12; Cal. Iiuj. viii,
no. 278.
"Cal. Pal. 1301.7, p. 418 ; Bridget,
op. cit. ii, 233.
"Cat. Pal. 1334-8, p. 119J Ch«n.
Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. MI (2nd noi), no. 30.
'« Cal. Pat. 1340-43, pp. 270, 334.
'» Feet of F. Div. Cos. Trin. 30 Ed. Ill ;
Cal. Pal. 1381-85, p. 387.
'• C.E.C. Complete Peerage; Feet of
F. Div. Cos. Mil. 12 Ric. II; ibid, case
178, file 88, no. 116; Cal. Pat. 1388-92,
p. 1 1 ; Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 Ric. II, no. 53.
" Cal. Chart. 1226-57, p. 432 ; Feet of
F. Northants, 45 Hen. III.
"Cat. Pat. 1258-66, p. 592; Cat.
C/ojf, 133033, p. 70-1.
'• Cal. Pat. 1258-66, p. 592 J Ilund. R.
(Rec. Com.) ii, 7 j Feud. Aids, iv, 12.
•» Ibid.
" Cal. Pat. 1301-7, p. 442 ; Cal. Close
'330-33. P-70-'-
•■ Ibid.
■• Cal. Pat. 1307-13, p. 321.
" Ibid. p. 400.
" Ibid. 1313-17, p. 40.
" Ibid. 1317-21, pp. 37, 250.
"Ibid. 1327-1330, p. 264 J Cal. Close,
'330-33. P- 70-1-
"Cat. Pat. i3i3-'7, P 338.
204
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 14 Edw. Ill (i«t
nos.), no. 32 ; Cal. Pat. 1341-3, p. 94.
•" Chan. Inq. p.m. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. ii
(i8t nos.), no. 76.
" Feet of F. Northants. East.
35 Ed. III.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 36 Edw. Ill, pt. ii
(lat nos.), no. 44.
"Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 21
Ric. II. •* Ibid.
" Rolls of Pari. (Rcc. Com.), v, 195* ;
Chart. R. 27 to 49 Hen. VI, no. 38.
•" Cal. Pat. 1467-77, p. 158.
>' G.E.C. Complete Peerage; Bridges,
Hist. Northants, ii, 25.
•» Ibid.
•• Feet of F. Northants. Ilil. 31
Hen. VIII ; ibid. Div. Cos. Mil. 2 and 3
Ph. and Mary; Northants. Mil. 3 and 4
Ph. and Mary ; Div. Cos. Hil. 4 Eliz. ;
Northants. Trin. 10 Eliz. ; Northants.
Hil. 6 Jat. I ; Chan. Inq. p m. (Scr. ii),
cccix, 200.
" Ibid, di, 64.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
IPea^lllllllltJ^'^^
heiresses, Mary the wife of the Earl of Wemyss and
Anne, afterwards the wife of Lord Gowran ; Anne
obtained both moieties of the manor.'" which de-
scended to her son John Fitz Patrick, who was created
Earl of Upper Ossory in 1751.-'- On 5 April 1748 Jolui
Fitz Patrick sold the manor to John second Duke of
Montagu.^^ The Duke died in the following year and
the manor descended through his daughter, Mary
wife of George Brudenell, Duke of Montagu to the
present Duke of Buccleuch, who is now lord of the
manor.**
In 1086 woodland was
attached to the manor a
league in length and four
furlongs in breadth.'** The
manor was within the Forest
of Rockingham, but in
1343 Simon Simeon obtained
licence to enclose his wood
there and five years later to
empark it, but he was not
allowed to make a deer-leap
in it.'" In 1450 Henry
Greene obtained leave to
empark his woods called
Grafton Park and Grafton
Woods and certain fields
and to have free chase in
the woods.*' The manor
was disafforested in 1639.''*
A mill is mentioned in
131 1, when it was granted
in fee with other tenements
to Thomas Brown, the
tenant for life of a moiety of the manor,'" with which
it was granted in 1316 to John Seymour.^"
The church of ST. JAMES consists
CHURCH of chancel 30 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 9 in.
with north chapel, clearstoried nave of
three bays 32 ft. 6 in. by 18 ft. 6 in., north and south
aisles about 9 ft. wide, south porch, and west tower
8 ft. 6 in. square surmounted by a spire ; all these
measurements are internal. The north chapel and
aisle are continuous without division and there is a
small vestry north of the tower. The width across
nave and aisles is 42 ft.
The building is of rubble throughout, and the
roofs of the nave and aisles are leaded behind plain
parapets ; the chancel has a high-pitched tiled roof
with overhanging eaves, and the porch is also covered
with tiles.
The earliest work in the present building is the
north arcade of the nave, which is of late 12th century
date, at which time an aisle was probably first added
to an earlier church. The arches are semi-circular
and of two square orders, springing from cylindrical
piers with moulded bases and shallow capitals with
square abaci, and from half-round responds with outer
angle shafts. The capitals are carved with bold
scroll foliage and the bases stand on square plinths.
GRAFTON
UNDERWOOD
The south arcade and the tower were built early
in the 13th century and the chancel arch is of the
same period, but there are no architectural features
in the chancel itself older tiian c. 1290. The round
arches of the south arcade are of two orders, the
outer square and the inner chamfered, springing from
cylindrical piers of more slender dimensions''"' than
those opposite with moulded bases and carved capitals
with circular abaci : the responds are half-octagonal.
The capitals have elementary stiff- stalk trefoils in
North Aisle
:::.?s::::.::u:::.
Nave
:g) South Aisle
□ 1212 Century late;c.H90
I3S Century
I4EJCENTURYC.I34.0
1512 Century
E3 Subsequent
so
20
40
JP
Plan
Scale of Feet
OF Grafton Underwood Church
low relief with nail head up the middle leaves, and
nail head also occurs on the west respond. In the
east respond the foliage is more fully developed.
About the middle of the 14th century alterations
were made to the chancel, and the chapel added. The
spire also dates from this period, and the south
aisle seems to have been rebuilt.^'- The aisle has a
string course at sill level and retains its west window
and south doorway, in front of which the porch was
built. New windows were inserted in both aisles in
the 15th century and the clearstory was added, or
an old one rebuilt.
The chancel has diagonal angle buttresses and an
east window of four cinquefoiled lights, with transom
and excellent tracery of mixed geometrical and
curvilinear character, the date of which may be
c. 1340. The two-light window at the east end of
the north wall and the three-light window opposite
are of the same period, the former with trefoiled lights
and quatrefoil in the head, the latter with reticulated
tracery. The plain priest's doorway is of the late
13th century and west of it is a contemporary window
of two trefoiled lights and plain circle in the head,
which seems to have been re-used in the 14th-century
alterations, its jambs being of that period.''^ In the east
wall, north and south of the altar, are elaborate
*' Bridgei, op. cit. ii, 233; Recov. R.
Hil. 7 Annf, ro. 125.
*• G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
*• Inf. from Messrs. NicboU Mani^ty and
Co. " See WarVton, p. 254 below.
" V.C.H.Northanu.\,-ii(>b.
"Col. Pat. 1343-45, P- **> ''''''•
1348-50, p. 57.
" Chart. R. 27 to 49 Hen. VI, no. 38 ;
Rolls, of Pari. (Rec. Com.) v, 195*.
" Pat. R. 15 Chas. I, pt. 10.
*• Cal. Pal. 1307-1313, pp. 321, 400.
•" Ibid. 1313-17, p. 338.
** They arc 20 in. diam. and 7 ft. 10 in.
to the top of the capital. In the north
205
arcade the diam. is :i in. and the height
7 ft. 6in.
*■ And perhaps widened : its width at
the west end is 9 ft. 8 in., that of the north
aisle 8 ft. loin.
•' They have a double hollow chamfer,
similar to the window at the west end of
the south aisle.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
14th-century niches, that on the north (which is the
larger) having a smaller trefoiled niche over it. At
the extreme east end of the south wall, about 6 ft.
from the floor^'' is a curious squint, or small opening
of two trefoiled lights cut out of a single stone,
similar in many respects to one at Weekley, the purpose
of which cannot be definitely stated.^* The 14th-
century triple sedilia have cinquefoiled ogee heads
beneath a rectangular traceried canopy and are on
the same level : the piscina has a fluted bowl and
trefoiled ogee head. In the north wall is a rectangular
aumbry with modern door, and further west the
wall is pierced by a broad chamfered arch opening to
the chapel, the floor of which is raised three steps.
The 13th-century chancel arch is of two chamfered
orders, the inner springing from corbels with nail-
head in the upper mouldings. The lower panels of
15th-century oak screens, with carved rails, remain
below the chancel arch and between the north aisle
and chapel.
The plain 13th-century north doorway is now
blocked, and both windows in the north wall (to aisle
and chapel) are three-light 15th-century insertions.
The east window of the chapel is square-headed and
of three trefoUed lights. The south aisle has a 15th-
century east window and another in the south wall,
both of three lights, but the older west window is of
two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in the head.
The 13th-century piscina of the aisle altar remains ;
it has a fluted bowl and plain pointed head. The
south doorway is of two hollow chamfered orders with
stops above the imposts and mas'; terminations to
the hood. The porch is of unusual depth, measuring
internally 15 ft. from north to south, by 8 ft. 6 in.
wide, and has an outer arch of two chamfered
orders, the inner springing from attached shafts with
moulded capitals and bases. The clearstory windows
are square-headed and of two trefoiled lights.
The tower is of three stages marked by strings, and
has plain parapets with big gargoyles in the middle
of each face, but no pinnacles. The lower stage has
early lancets, widely splayed inside, on the west and
south, the heads in one stone and without hoods.
In the second stage there is a tall narrow round-headed
opening on the south,^* but the north and west sides
are blank. The bell chamber windows are of two
lights, those on the west and east being unaltered
13th-century openings with solid tympanum and
hood ; the north and south windows have 14th-
century heads of two trefoiled lights and quatrefoil
above. The 13th century tower arch is of two square
orders with imposts, the inner order resting on conical
corbels. A buttress has been added at the south-west
corner of the tower, and a modern doorway in the
south wall blocked. The spire is of the ' stone-timber '
type, with broaches behind the parapet, like that of
Denford : it has plain angles and two sets of lights on
the cardinal faces, w^ith a band below the lower lights.
The vestry seems to be a comparatively modern
addition, but in its west wall is a small early 13th
century window, probably taken from the north side
of the tower, against which it is built.
Two lead rain water heads on the north clearstory
are dated 1758.
The font has a plain 13th-century bowl with curved
sides, and a flat Jacobean oak cover with knob handle.
The panelled oak pulpit is dated 1728.
In the chancel is a marble wall monument com-
memorating Richard Fitzpatrick, Baron Gowran
(d. 1727), his wife Ann Robinson (d. 1744), their son
John, Earl of Upper Ossory (d. 1758) and his wife
Evelyn Leveson-Gower (d. 1763) ; also John, 2nd
Earl of Upper Ossory (d. 1818) and his wife Ann
Liddell (d. 1804) ; they are all buried 'in this vault.'
Another monument is to the Rev. William Bidwell,
rector (d. 1794). In the north chapel is a table tomb
with modern-media'val brass to Lady Gertrude
Fitzpatrick, who died 30 September, 1841, and on the
waU a monument to Lady Anne Fitzpatrick, who died
14 December in the same year.
There are five bells, the treble, second and tenor
by John Taylor & Co., Loughborough, 1923, and the
third and fourth by Matthew and Henry Bagley,
dated 1682."
The plate consists of a cup and paten without
marks but inscribed ' 1664,' an almsdish of 1690, a
bread-holder of 1704 and a flagon of 1836.^*
The registers begin in 1538.
The advowson of the church of
ADVOWSON Grafton Underwood was given to
the alien priory of St. Fremont in
Normandy, probably by Richard or William de
Huniez.^" The temporalities of the priory were seized
by the crown during the Hundred Years War and
presentations were made by the crown from 1337 to
1413.'''' In 1389 or 1390, the prior of St. Fremont
had granted the advowson to the Carthusian priory
of Beauvale, in Nottinghamshire, although the grant
could not take practical effect as the king had leased
the rectory in 1382 to Walter Malet and again in 1399
to Robert Hastings.®' In 1464, however, Edward IV
granted the advowson to Beauvale, but it does not
appear amongst its possessions at the Dissolution of
the monasteries.''^ It seems to have come into the
possession of the heirs of Henry Vere,*' between whose
heirs the manor (q.v.) was divided and finally passed
to the Mordaunts." It followed the descent of the
manor*'''' and in 1874 Lord Lyveden was patron of the
** The height of the sill from the ground
outiide ii 8 ft.
** The opening bclongi to a category
lomctimcs ttylcd 'high lide windowi.'
It iplayi intcrn.illy to ii in. and com-
mandi the louth niche and the altar.
The itonc in which it is cut measures
20 in by iz in : the lights are 4 in. wide
by 14I in. high. Inside, the opening is
rectangular and goes right back to the
east end of the chancel. The sill is very
•loping. All. Arch. Soc. Rep. xxix, 415.
** The head is new.
" There were formerly four bells, all
by M, and II. Bagley, 1682 j in 1923 a
treble was added, and two of the old bells
recast. The bells were rehung in 1924,
a pit being left for another treble. The
inscriptions on the old belli are given in
North, Ch. nelts of Nortbanls. 279, but
not in their right order.
" M.irkham, Cb. Plate 0/ Noribanti.
135. The almsdish was given in 1854
by Robert Vernon Smith, afterwards
Lord Lyveden, and his wife ; the bread-
holder was app.ircntly a domestic salver.
" Rot. Rob. Groiiileiti (Cant, and York
Soc.) 213.
•" Cat. Pal. 1334-8, p. 521 ; 1348-50,
PP' 374. 470. 5'»i '358-6'i P- 16 1 ;
206
1391-96, pp. 204, 212; i40'-5^ P- 270;
1413-16, p. 18.
"' Ibid. 1461-67, p. 155.
'^^ Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 14.
'* I'ret of F. Northants, Ilil. 3 .ind 4
Ph. .ind Mary ; Div. Cos. Mil. 4 Elii. ;
Northants. Trin. lo Elir. ; I'ai. R.
3 and 4 Ph. and Mary, pt. 6.
" I'cct of !•'. Norlhanls. Ilil. 6 Jas. I ;
Trin. 8 Chas. 1 ; Div. Cos. Mil. i and
2 Jas. II; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii)
cccix, 200; Instit. Bks. (I'.R.O.) 1621,
1641, 1649.
"Ibid. 1667, 1742, 1794; Recov. R.
Ilil. 7 Anne,ro. 125.
IP*'
Grafton U.NutRwuoD Church trom iiit East
Grafton UNotRwoou Chukcii : Tut iNTtKioR, looking East
iissffUff'^--*-
-.«-^.
Iri Mi.iNGBOROLi.il : 'I'lii Marki- I' Cross
HUXLOE HUNDRED irthlingborough
church.** About 1918 he sold the advowson with the
Fermyn Woods estate, to Mr. Robert Davidson.
The church land consists of 3 a.
CHARITIES 3 r. 37 p. at Grafton Underwood let
to Mr. W. Palmer at £6 yearly. The
income is applied by the rector and churchwardens,
agreeably to immemorial usage, to the expenses of the
church.
The Poor's Land has been appropriated time out
of mind to the use of the poor. It consists of 9 a.
I r. 17 p. in the parish of Geddington and is let to
Henry Smith at ^^lo yearly. In 1905 a sale of timber
took place and the proceeds were invested in
£}\ 14J. 4<^. Consols, producing 15^ 8J. yearly in
dividends. The income is distributed in bread and
meat by the rector and churchwardens to about
5 recipients.
By her will, proved 19 September, 1856, Elizabeth
Dopping Arnold gave /jioo Consols to the rector and
churchwardens for the benefit of 6 poor families.
The income amounting to £z ioj. is distributed to
6 families in bread, meat and clotliing.
The stock is with the Official Trustees of Charitable
Funds.
IRTHLINGBOROUGH
Erdeburne, Erdinburne (xi cent.), Yrlingbure,
Irtlingburg, Irtlibure, Urtlingburch (xii cent.),
Yrthingburia, Irelingburg, Irtlingburgh (xiii cent.),
Hertillingborogh (xiv cent.), Artleborough (xvi, xvii,
xviii cent.), Itchingborovve (xvii cent.).
The parish of Irthlingborough comprises 3,676
acres, of which about half is arable and half under
grass. It lies in the bend of the River Nene, which
forms its eastern and southern boundaries, while the
Ise, a tributary of the Nene, is its western boundary.
The land rises northward and westward from the river,
reaching 260 ft. at Crow Hill near the confines of Little
Addington. The soil is clay, iron- and limestone.
Until the latter part of the l6th century Irthling-
borough formed two parishes, the one with its church
of St. Peter standing in the village on the south side
of me main road, and the other with its church of
All Saints about a quarter of a mile east of St. Peter's.
The site of this church is in a field overlooking the
Nene on the south-west of the road to Higham Ferrers,
near the manor house, which was probably the manor
house of the BataiUe fee to which the church was
attached. As early as 1428* there were only eight
parishioners, and in 1562 the church is said to have
been ' dcvasted and in utter ruin.' Sir William
Cecil, being in want of lead for the roof of Burleigh
House, was informed that the parishioners of All
Saints were ' otherwise sufficiently provided of a
church,' and that the Dean of Peterborough, who had
been approached, declared the lead on the church was
worth ;^io, and no one should have it except Cecil.'
In 1570, after an episcopal visitation, the church-
wardens were admonished regarding the state of the
church. The glass windows were broken ' that 20
nobles will not make them sufficient,' two altars were
half standing and ' not pulled down as they ought,'
there was ' much superstition which would grieve any
man to come to ' and the churchyard was ' in con-
fusion.' The churchwardens were ordered to certify
that the repairs had been made.* Probably no repairs
were carried out, and the church at this time fell into
complete ruin, although the fragment of a gravestone,
bearing the date 1670, found on the site, may indicate
thai the churchyard was in use until the close of the
1 7th century. The church had been pulled down long
before Bridges wrote {d. 1724), though considerable
remains of it then existed, built into a house. In 1849
only the foundations of the eastern and northern walls
could be made out, and from them it was considered
that the church was smaller than that of St. Peter's.
The foundations are now only discernible for a few feet.
The village clusters round the road from Higham
Ferrers to Kettering where it is crossed by the by-road
from Wellingborough to the Addingtons and Wood-
ford. The former road crosses the River Nene to the
east of the village by Irthlingborough Bridge, which
was built probably in the 14th century. It consists of
ten ribbed arches of three chamfered orders with five
refuge cutwaters on the down-stream side and three
further cutwaters at the south end weathering back
below the parapet. One of the cutwaters bears the
date 1668 denoting, probably, the time of some repair.
The bridge was widened on the up-stream side in 1754
by the addition of semicircular brick arches which are
advanced nearly to the front of the old cutwaters* ;
on a stone of one of these cutwaters are the arms of
Peterborough Monastery. The refuges above on this
side have been destroyed. The bridge was repaired
in 1922. The expense of the repairs of this bridge,
and that at Ditchford at the south of the parish, was
formerly borne jointly by Irthlingborough and Higham
Ferrers.
The market cross stands at the junction of the two
main reads. It is of late 1 3th century date and consists
of a calvary of seven octagonal steps^ with a shaft
splayed from a square base to form an irregular
octagon, on each face of which at unequal distances are
carved ballfiowers resembling crockets. The capital
is carved with trefoil foliage and is surmounted by a
square abacus set diagonally to the base. The cross
was restored in 1925 by H.M. Office of Works.
Bridges states that ' the stafT ' of the cross, in height
13 ft., was used as a standard for the pole to measure
the ' parts or doles on the meadows.'*
A house at the west end of the main street is dated
1624, but very few old buildings remain in the town.
On a small two-storied house in Gosham Street is a
panel inscribed :
WILLIAM TRIGC
BUILT THIS HOUSE
FOR TWO WIDOWS
ANNO DOM. 1724
" Whellan, Hist, of Noribanu. Thomai
Harper preiented in 1692 prctumably
' pro hac vice ' (Initit. Bki. (P.R.O.)
1692).
' Ftud. Aidi, IT, 52.
• Nortbantj, A', and Q. vi, 201.
• Ibid. (New Ser.) ii, 175.
• Ibid i, 91 ; ii, 26, 42, 136.
' There are leven iteps on one side and
eight on the other, the lower itep being
207
divided into two on the south side and
raised high above the road : Asi. Arch.
Soc. Reps, xxiii, 179.
• Bridges, Hill. Norlbanli. ii, 235.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
In 1630 there is mention of a meadow called ' Towne
Hulme ' probably part of the common, the tenants
of which and those of the King's meadow in Higham
Ferrers had to maintain the ditch between them. An
Act for inclosing lands in the parish was passed in
1808.'
Boot and shoemaking has been the principal industry
in the parish for a long time. There are also iron
works.
IRTHLINGBOROUGH may have
MJXORS been included in Edgar's grant of Ketter-
ing (q.v.) to the abbot and convent of
Peterborough. In 1086 the abbey held there five
hides and one virgate.' The survey of the abbey's
land made between 112*5 ^"^ nzS states that two
hides were in demesne, that
three villeins and ten half-
villeins held I hide, the priest
one virgate and two socmen
one bovate and a half, that
there were two cottars, and
that one hide, less half a vir-
gate, lay vacant. Further, the
socmen of Irthlingborough
were said to hold one hide,
one virgate and one bovate
and to owe knights' service.
The Northamptonshire Sur-
vey gives the land of the abbey's fee in Irthlingborough
as five and a half hides and one small virgate.* A
charter of Pope Eugenius III of 1146*" and royal
charters of 1189,11 1227I- and 13321^ confirmed
their holding in Irthlingborough to the abbot
and convent. Abbot Martin de Bee (1135-SS)
assigned the profits of Irthlingborough to the work
of the sacristy ;!'• Abbot Walter, of Bury St. Edmunds
(1233-45), built there a new byre and new stables ;i^
and Abbot Godfrey of Crowland (l 299-1 321) inclosed
the right side of the manor with a new stone wall and
new gates in front of the hall, the former wall being
in ruins.*" Officials of the abbey must have stayed
in the hall from time to time, and in 1281 it sheltered
the Bishop of Lincoln.*' In 1321-2, there was a capital
messuage, and the demesne included 70 acres of arable
land, 21 acres of meadow, and pasture of the annual
value of 6s. Sd. ; seven free tenants rendered 10/. 6J.
a year, twenty-three customary tenants held virgates
of land and were bound to do tillage, weeding,
reaping and harvesting on 46 acres of the demesne,
and to till the remaining 24 acres. Further, for each
virgate, they had to supply a man for a day in every
week in the year, except at Christmas, Easter, and
Whitsuntide, or render \il. for each day's work of one
Peterborough Abdev.
Gules two CTOised krys or.
The manor continued in the possession of Peter-
borough Abbey until the Dissolution.**
In 1542 the manor of Irthlingborough was granted
to the Jean and chapter of Peterborough,^" who are still
lords.
Hugo Candidus states that when Thorold, Abbot
of Peterborough (1069-88), distributed land in knights'
fees, because he desired defenders against Hereward
the Wake, he made two fees in Irthlingborough.-* In
1086, however, four knights held there of the abbot
five hides, less one virgate." In the middle of the
ne.\t century these knights' fees were apparently repre-
sented by 3 J hides held by Reginald de la Bataille, and
one hide by Simon Basset of the Avenel fee.^^ These
holdings were included in the confirmatory charters
granted to the abbey by Eugenius IIl,^* Richard I,^^
Henry III,"^ and Edward III.2'
With regard to the BATAILLE FEE, there appears
to have been some doubt whether it was held directly
of the abbot of Peterborough or of the Bassingbourne
fee, which was held of the abbot.-^ Reginald de la
Bataille seems to have been succeeded by William de la
Bataille (de Bello), who held land in Irthlingborough
in 1179"* and in 1189 he, with Richard del Peak, held
3 knights' fees in Irthlingborough and Addington.
William de la Bataille in 1214 claimed the advowson of
the church of All Saints,'" and in the middle of the
13th century Robert de la Bataille held ij knights' fee
in Irthlingborough, Addington and Woodford.'* In
1 3 16-17 Henry de Drayton conveyed a manor of
Irthlingborough to Simon de Drayton probably in
settlement.'- Simon held it of the fee of Bataille"
and in 1 327 obtained a grant of free warren over his
lands there.** In 1353 he conveyed the manor to
John Pyel, citizen and mercer of London,'* whose
widow Joan, at his desire, founded the college of
Irthlingborough in 1388.'* The manor passed to
Nicholas Pyel, who did homage to the abbot of
Peterborough in 1399." He married Elizabeth
Gorge and died in 1402-3. He is said to have had a
son John, who was succeeded by Elizabeth, probably
his daughter. Elizabeth married Sir William Huddle-
ston and on her death the manor passed to her son,
Henry Huddleston, who at his death in 1488 be-
queathed it to his daughter Elizabeth, wife of Thomas
Cheyney, but failing heirs of her body it was to be
devoted to the salvation of his soul and the souls of
his parents and ancestors.'* Sir Thomas Cheyney and
others, in 151 1, obtained licence to grant to the dean
and chapter of the collegiate church of Irtlilingborough
lands of the annual value of £2\?^ These lands
probably went towards the endowment of the two
additional prebends of the foundation of Lady Chey-
ney to which reference is found in 1530.'"' At the dis-
' Norihanls. N. and Q. (New Ser.) ii,
117.
* y.C.H. Norlhann. i, 314A ; »cc
alio Cbron. Petrcb. (Camdrn Soc), i6'>,
• y.C.II. Norihanls. i, 388*.
«' Sparkc, llisl. Corn. Burg. Script. Var.
(Hugo Candidui), 78.
" Cal. Chart. 1327-41, p. 275.
" Ibid. 1226-57, p. 19.
" Ibid. 1327-41, p. 275.
'« Sp.irkc, op. cit,87.
'» Ibid. 120.
'• Ibid. i<;4.
>' Cbron. /•<(«>. (Camden Soc), 85.
" Sparke, op. cit. 120.
'• Valor Ecd. (Rcc. Com.\ iv, 279,
2S0, 282.
»» I'at. R. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. 3.
" Sparkc, op. cit. 61.
" V.C.II. Norlhanli. i, 317a.
"Ibid. 388.
" Sparkc, op. cit. 78.
" Cal. Chart. 1327-41, 275.
" Ibid. 1226-57, H).
■' Ibid. 1327-41, 275.
•• Pytchlcy, Hk. of Fees (Nortlianli
Rcc. Soc), 73-5.
•• Pipe Roll Soc. XXV, p. 65.
208
" Rot. de Oblatis et Fin. (Rcc Com.),
535-
" Pytchlcy, op. cit. 74.
" Feet of F. Edw. II, ca«e 176, file 68,
no. 323.
" Pytchlcy, op. cit. 75.
" Cal. Chart. 1327-41, p. 13 ; Plae. de
uo Ware. (Rcc. Com.), 543.
"' Bridges, llist. Northants, ii, 235.
'" r.i.'.ll. Northants, ii, 179.
" Ibid. cf. Woodford.
"" K.trly Chan. Proc. bdlc. 587, no. 40 j
Col. Inq. Hen. VII. i, 297.
" I., and P. Hen. I'll 1,1, 1724.
*" \'iRitalion of l.ongland.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
IRTHLINGBOROUGH
•olution of the college in 1547, it seems to have been
possessed of manorial rights in Irthlingborough.'"
A manor in Irthlingborough was settled by Sir
Thomas Cheyney, by his will dated 1512, on his wife
Anne for life with remainder in fee-tail on Elizabeth,
his daughter by his first wife,*^ Klizabcth Huddlcston.
Sir Thomas died seised in 1514 and was succeeded by
his daughter Elizabeth, then aged 9 years, and affianced
to Thomas, son and heir of Sir Nicholas V'aux,'" who
became second Lord Vaux of Harrowdcn. Elizabeth
died in 1556 and was succeeded by her son William,
third Lord N'aux,** who settled the manor in 1564.''*
He held lands inherited from liis mother in Irthling-
borough and those of the late College.''* In 1574 he
mortgaged the glebe lands of the rectory and parson-
age. He married M.iry, sister of Sir Thomas
Tresham, and was imprisoned as a recusant in 1583.'"
In 1 591 his second son Ambrose was accused of having,
at his father's instigation, carried ofT the barley of
Robert Gage, farmer of the parsonage.** Lord Vaux
died in 1595, having been predeceased by five weeks
by his son George, whose heir Edward was a minor.^"
For assurance of title he obtained a crown grant of
the manor in 1612 and 1613,'*' and in l6l6 he had a
fresh grant of free warren." The manor was settled
on him in 1628.*- In 1632 he married Elizabeth,
widow of the first earl of Banbury, and in 1646,** and
1655" he settled Irthlingborough manor on his
reputed son by her, Nicholas, who was born in 1632,
and had succeeded to the earldom of Banbury.
Nicholas inlierited the manor on the death of Lord
Vaux in l66l, and died in 1680,''* when Irthling-
borough manor passed to his eldest daughter Anne,
the wife of Sir John Briscoe, knight. By Sir John it
was sold before 1724 to John Underwood, attorney-at-
law, of Higham, who was succeeded by his son John,
a minor at this date.^ John Underwood settled the
manor on himself and his wife in 1738," and was
dealing with it in 1768.^' It subsequently passed to
the dean and chapter of Peterborough, who are the
present owners.
The AfENEL FEE in Irthlingborough of one
knight was held of the abbot of Peterborough by
William .Avenel (11 25), whose son William was living
in 1 168.*' The second William left two daughters,
Amice, the wife of Richard de Vernon, and Elizabeth,
the wife of Simon Basset.*" The whole fee seems to
have passed to Simon Basset*' after William, son of
Richard and Amice, had subinfeudated one
Harang of their share. Simon Basset left a son John
Basset (12 1 2) and a daughter Mabel, the wife of Guy
Wake. Robert son of John Basset was succeeded by
his grandson Robert.*^ The last Robert had a son
Robert Basset of Rushton, who did homage to the
abbot of Peterborough for his father's lands in
Irthlingborough of the fee of Avenel in 1291." John
Basset was holding in 1348, when we find that Hugh
Wake, John Ic Warde and Henry Green held the
knight's fee of him.** Hugh Wake was the great-
grandson of Guy and Mabel Wake, referred to above,
whose son Thomas had a son Hugh, whose son Hugh
was the holder in 1346.** John le Warde and Henry
Green represented the interest of Harang, above
referred to, whose share passed to Walkclin de Arderne,
and from his son Peter it seems to have been divided
between Richard le Warde, whose son John le Warde
was holding in 1346, and Hugh Heroun whose share
passed to Henry Green.** By 1428 the whole fee of
Hugh Wake and John le Warde, possibly including the
share of Henry Green, had been acquired by William
Braunspath.*' The later descent of this holding has
not been traced, but it was probably acquired by the
chief lords, the abbot and convent of Peterborough,
who were purch.ising much property about this time.
Apparently the first feoflee of the G ARC ATE FEE
of one knight in Irthlingborough and Warmington
was Hugh Gargate, who was enfeoffed probably in the
reign of Henry II.** Hugh was followed by Gunfrid
Gargate, whose son David granted to Walter, abbot
of Peterborough (1233-45) 17 virgates of land with a
messuage in Irthlingborough.** About 1228 the fee
became divided, two-thirds of it in Warmington going
to the St. Liz family and one-third in Irthlingborough
to Robert de Meysy and John de Dene. In 1254
Ralph Fitz Henry paid aid on this part of the fee and
in 1315 it was held by Roger de Lisle and later by
John de Lisle.'"
In 1 341 John de Seymour (St. Maur) died seised
of rents in Irthlingborough, held of Alan de Seymour,
leaving a son John," who in 1347 held of the abbot of
Peterborough in Irthlingborough one-third of the
knight's fee in Warmington and Irthlingborough
which had been in the tenure of Hugh Gargate.'^
This John de Seymour died in 1349, leaving a son
John, a minor, but before his death he had demised
his holding in Irthlingborough to William de Seymour
of Hardwick." This conveyance may have been in
trust, for in 1357 Thomas de Seymour died seised of
messuages and land in Irthlingborough, held of the
abbot of Peterborough. The holding had been
settled on Thomas, in tail, by the grant of Warine
de Seymour, with remainders to his brothers, of whom
Nicholas alone survived and inherited, since Thomas
died without issue.'" In 1428 the tenants of the fee
in Irthlingborough once in the tenure of John de
Seymour were said to be William Braunspath, Richard
♦' Falor Eccl (Rcc. Com.), iv, 309.
" Coll. Top el Cm. v, 88 ; G. E. C.
ComfUie Peerage, viii, 18, 19.
. *■ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. ii), xxix, 3.
" G. E. C. Complete Peerage, viii. 19.
" Feet of F. Northanti. East. 6 Elii.
*• Chan. Proc. vol. ii, bdle. 225, no. loi.
" Hut. MSS. Com. Rep. (Var. Coll.),
iii, pp. vii, 33,64, 65,72, 73.
" ^cis oj Prtvy Council, 1590-1, p. 303.
" G. E. C. loc. cit.
*• Pat. R. 10 Ja». I, pt. 15 ; II Jai. I,
pt. 6, no. 13.
" Pat. R. I4jai. I, pt. j.
'• Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 4 Chai. I.
" Ibid. Chai. I, 22 March 1646.
"Ibid. Mich. 1655.
" G.E.C.
" Bridget (who died in 1724) Wis/.
Nortbants, ii, 236.
" Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 12
Geo. II.
'« Ibid. 8 Geo. III.
" See Mellow, in Pytchley, Hk. of
Fees (Northant*. Rec. Soc), 128-9.
•° Ibid. ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. (Bclvoir
Caitic), iv, 23.
•' Cbron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 174;
V.C.H. Northanti. i, 388* ; Cat. Cbart,
Ui7-4'. P- J7S-
•« Pytchley, loc. cit.
•• Cbron. Petrob. (Camden Soc), 148.
'* Cott. MS. Cleop. C i, fol. 147, njd.
•' Pytchlej, loc cit.
209
•• Ibid.
•' Feud. Aids, iv. 49. A Sir William
Bramspath of Bloreston (Co. Leicester)
and hi» brothers John and Thomas died
f.p. and their nephew, John Howell,
brought an action against William I sham
about Bloreston in 1474. Wrottesley,
Pcd.from Plea R. 437.
" Sec Mellows in VytMiy,Bk.oJ Fees,
127H.
" Reg. Rob. Swaflfham, cclxiiii.
"> Pytchley, op. cit. 126, 127, 12711.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 14 Ed. Ill (ist nos.),
"Cotton MS. Cleop. C i, foil. 143*
and 144.
'I Ca/. /»•/. ii, 281. '• Ibid. I, 437.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Lord and John Lord.'* The later descent cannot be
traced.
The church of ST. PETER consists
CHURCH of chancel 41 ft. by 16 ft., with north
and south chapels, nave of four bays,
44 ft. 6 in. hy 18 ft. 6 in., north and south transeptal
chapels, 17 ft. by 16 ft., north and south aisles,
west porch, 18 ft. by 11 ft. 6 in., and west tower
13 ft. square, all these measurements being internal.
The north aisle is 13 ft. 6 in. wide and the south aisle
in li.'u, but no other work of this period remains, the
church having been entirely rebuilt in the second
quarter of the 13th century, approximately on the
existing plan. The chancel, chapels, nave, tran-
septs and aisles are substantially of this period, but
the chancel was lengthened a bay, c. 1280-90, and
windows inserted in other parts of the building.
The tower was probably built or begun by John
Pvel, but may not have been completed at his death
in 1 376 : he was also responsible for the west doorway,
mc 1221-50
nnjc 1280-90
Ei!lcl3S5
fBcl385(Ki:i\tmT 18SS-90)
in 161!! Ci^iTURv
Plan of St. Pitfr's Church, Irthlingborouch
15 ft., the width across nave and aisles being 51 ft. 6 in.
There arc clearstories both to chancel and nave, with
battlementcd parapets, but elsewhere the parapets
are plain. All the roofs, except that of the porch,
are leaded and of low pitch.
The tower stands west of the porch and is con-
nected with it by a building measuring internally
14 ft. by 10 ft., to which other buildings were attached
on the north side covering the tower : the vaulted
cellars of these remain. This western structure formed
part of the buildings of the college : other collegiate
buildings appear to have been on the south side.
The church is built of rubble, and internally tiie
walls have been stripped of plaster, except in the aisles
and transepts. The use of mingled ironstone and
freestone in the nave and chancel arcades produces a
rich note of colour.
The original church was of 12th-century date. It
had a nave the same size as at present and a south
arcade the moulded pier-bases of which arc still
porch, and connecting building, and the establishment
of the college led to other alterations in the church,
the chancel being heightened by the addition of a
clearstory and new windows inserted in other parts.
The nave clearstory was added in the latter part of
the 15th century.
Tiie tower having long been in a dangerous state"
was taken down in 18S7 and rebuilt on a new concrete
foundation in 188S-93 as far as possible with the old
stone. The first portion was completed in the spring
of 1889 and the tower finished as far as the battle-
ments in 1892 : the octagon was rebuilt in 1893.
The chancel has an east window of five gradated
lancets with pierced spandrels, and north and south
windows of two lights with forked mulliuns, all having
chamfered rear arches and plain jambs. Ncrtii of the
altar in the cast wall is a triangular headed aumbry,
and in the south wall below the window a double
piscina.'* Below the north window is a segmental
wall recess with inner moulded arch and trefoiled
'* FeuJ. Aidi^ iv, 4(^.
'• Cf. nalaillc I'cc, ahovc.
^' Examination in 1883 ihowctl tlic devi-
ation from ihc pcrprndicular .it Rroutui two plain ch.imfcrcd archci, but the
level to be 2 It. ti in. to tlic njuth-c.ist. ccntr;il 8h;i(t fif any) is gone. Tlic bowli
" The rcccti ii i (t. 8J in. wide with are without (oil«.
210
w
X
H
HUXLOE HUNDRED irthlikgborough
cusping, containing a I3th-cenfar) coped coffin lid
witii cross in circle. Thus far the work belongs to
the late 13th century bay, which extends about 12 ft.
beyond the chapel on the south side. Further west
in the south wall is a fragment of the earlier 13th-
century piscina and a rectangular aumbry, the lintel
of which has a cusped trefoil cut on the face. The
western half of the chancel, which formed the collegiate
quire, is open to the chapels on both sides by 13th-
century arcades of two arclies on piers composed of
four clustered shafts and hall-round responds, all
with moulded capitals and bases : the arches are
of two chamfered orders. The wide and lofty chancel
arch is of similar character, the outer order continuous,
the inner springing from attached shafts with moulded
capitals and bases on high plinths. The chancel
clearstory has four square-headed three-light win-
dows on each side, the western windows being
narrower than the rest.
The chapels ditTer in size, but that on the north
has been rebuilt and its east wall moved slightly
west of the respond of the chancel arcade. This was
probably done at the beginning of the l6th century
by Sir Thomas Cheyney, whose arms occur on two of
a row of otherwise blank shields on the parapet. The
walling is rather rough and without string-course or
buttress, but the old windows were re-used. As
rebuilt, the chapel measures internally 21 ft. 6 in. by
13 ft., and it is divided from the north aisle by a 13th-
century arch of two chamfered orders springing from
half-round responds at a considerably higher level
than those of the nave and chancel arcades. The east
window is of two lights with forked muUion and in
the north wall is a restored 14th-century window of
two trefoiled lights and quatrefoil in the head.
The south chapel is 29 ft. long by 16 ft. wide, and
has a moulded outer doorway and two two-light
windows with forked muUions in the south wall.
The east window is blocked : on its north jamb is
an image bracket and another in the north wall
adjoining. From the north-east angle of the chapel
a 15th-century squint with cinquefoiled and em-
battled head is directed to the high altar.'^ The
arch to the aisle is similar to that on the north side,
but has been restored.
The 13th-century nave arcades consist of four
arches*-' of two chamfered orders springing from piers
of four clustered shafts with moulded capitals and
bases and from half-round responds. The capitals
of the north arcade are more elaborately moulded
and of greater projection than those opposite, but on
both sides the arches are built of approximately
alternate voussoirs of ironstone and freestone, like
those of the chancel arcades.*' The bases of the piers
of the south arcade stand upon square plinths and
12th-century circular moulded bases with foot orna-
ments : the plinths alone remain on the north side.
The lines of the high-pitched 13th-century roof are
still visible at the ends of the nave and high in the
west wall is a three-light 14th-century window with
excellent tracery, probably inserted by Pyel. The
lofty clearstory windows have very depressed arches
and are of three trefoiled lights. The doorway to
the rood loft remains in the south wall west of the
chancel arch : towards the aisle several steps of the
rood stair remain in the thickness of the wall.
The north aisle has a late 14th-century square-
headed window of four trefoiled lights at the west end
and in the north wall a blocked doorway with con-
tinous mouldings, a 15th-century window of three
lights like those of the nave clearstory, and furtlicr
east a square-headed I4th-cenlury two-light windov/.
Externally, east of the doorway, is a mutilated stoup
and above it a moulded rectangular recess with blank
panel.
The south aisle has a restored west window of three
gradated lancets, and in the south wall a square-
headed 14th-century three-light window with good
reticulated tracery. West of this is a single lancet
vvhicii, though modernised, appears to be one of the
original windows of the 13th-century church: there
is another in the west wall of the south transept.
This transept is divided from the aisle by a wide
14th-century arch of two chamfered orders, the inner
springing from half-octagonal responds with moulded
capitals and bases, and is lighted at the end by a
pointed 14th-century window of three lights with
reticulated tracery : in the east wall is a late 13th
century two-light window with forked mullion.
Below the transept is a crypt, or bone-hole, approached
from the aisle by a staircase in the thickness of the
west wall and covered by a single bay of quadripartite
vaulting, the ribs of which spring from low angle-
shafts. The crypt is lighted by windows on the
south and east.
The 13th-century arch to the north transept is
similar in character to that between the aisle and
the north chapel. Externally the transept has low
diagonal buttresses, and is lighted at the end by a
window of three gradated lancets and from the west
by a two-light window with forked mullion. In
the east wall is a wide and deeply recessed moulded
arch resting on three short shafts; the arch appears
never to have been opened and probably contained
the transept altar.
The west porch had originally a chamber over,'-
but is now open its full height and covered with a
modern high-pitched tiled roof hipped at the east end
so as not to interfere with the nave window *^ The
porch has four doorways, those north and south being
external and placed near the west end of the walls.
They have a continuous moulding and labels on the
outside, but internally plain segmental rear arches
only. The east doorway is, of course, the west
doorway of the church and is moulded similarly to
the porch, but with some difference in the termina-
tions of the label. On each side of the doorway is a
trefoiled niche and above are two transomed, or double
stage niches with groined canopies and the arms of Pyel
below the sills. The doorway into the forebuildingof
the tower corresponds in moulding with theothers.and
over it is a trefoiled niche with a flue behind, evidently
intended for a light." The porch is now lighted by
modern pointed windows of two lights in the north
" On the chancel lidc the opening ii
quite phin.
'° The eastern arch of both arcades
oppoiite the traniepti ii 10 ft. wide i the
width of the other* ii 9 ft.
•' Ironilonr is alio uied in some of the
piers and responds, but is disposed »ery
irregularly.
"^ The room had a fireplace and was at
one time used as a school It was rcmoTed
about 1S46 : ths. Archd. Northamfl. 1 16.
^' Under the window arc the marks of
211
the original porch roof, which wai of verj
low pitch.
^^ Chi. Archd. Northampt. Ii6. The
niche wai originnllr higher ; it was
lowered when a flat ceiling was inierted in
the porch.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
and south walls, but traces of square-headed windows
remain on the south side, one of which, high in the
wall, retains its label.
The 15th-century font has an octagonal bowl with
ehhorate traceried panels and embattled top moulding
rtn a panelled stem.
There are four I5th-centurj' stalls on each side
of die quire, but the misericords are missing from
three : of the others one has a man holding a shield
and four are moulded.
The pulpit and seating are modern.
In the floor of the north chapel is a fragment of
the brass inscription from the grave of Richard
Frysseby, first dean of the college, which reads
' . . . pro anima domini Ricardi . . . qui obiit ...'*"
The monument of the founder John Pyel (d. 1376)
and Joan his wife in the south chapel has already
been described :*'' the effigies are mutilated and lie
on a tomb with panelled sides. A later mutilated
female effigy,*' supposed to represent Elizabeth, first
wife of Sir Thomas Cheyney, lies on the floor of the
chapel, and against the east wall is a l6th century
canopied table tomb at the back of which are indents
of two figure brasses, two shields and two inscrip-
tions.** In the floor of the chapel are three grave
slabs containing indents, one a blue stone with figure
of priest, inscription, shield and corner roundels,
another with figures of knight and lady and shields
at bottom, and the third is a fragment only with
canopy work and two shields.
In the north chapel are wall monuments to Mary,
wife of Anthony Leybourne (d. 1690), Henry Wyckley
(d. 1723), Simon Taylor (d. 1786), Simon Oliver
Taylor (d. 1819) and .Ann his wife (d. 1773).
The tower is of unusual design and stands about
36 ft. west of the nave, having apparently been
planned with the college buildings, of which it formed
part. It is of four stages, with battlemented parapets
and angle turrets and is surmounted by an octagonal
lantern of two stages with pointed roof, or short
spire of lead. The total height of tower and octagon
is 99 ft. The three lower stages of the square tower
have rectangular buttresses set back a little from the
angles and carried up the bell-chamber stage as flat
pilasters. The lower stage has windows on three
sides, that on the north being square-headed and on
one side set towards the east. The middle stage has
openings on the north and west only, while in the
third stage there are windows on all four sides with
the arms of Pyel in a panel above. The bell-chamber
windows consist of two single pointed openings with
flowing tracery and hoods, set widely apart and with
a trefoiled and gabled niche** between. The two
external stages of the lantern are divided by a string
and in the lower one wide rectangular openings with
trefoiled heads, except on the west side, which is blank.
On each face of the upper stage is a square-headed and
panelled window of three trefoiled lights with quatre-
foils in the head. The tower has a vice in the north-
east corner giving access to the bell-chamber : the
parapet is carried on a corbel-table and has cross
loopholes.
In a description of the tower written by Professor
Freeman about 1848,'" it is stated that the buttresses
on the south side were then new and ' but feeble
imitations of the older work.' A vast buttress had
been built against the east face as high as the bell-
chamber windows, concealing any openings on that
side, the tower having ' previously been in a somewhat
dangerous state, which had been increased by opening
a small doorway in the south wall.'** At that time
the structure leaned ' very perceptibly ' to the south-
east.
Internally the lantern was divided by floors into
three stories connected by staircases and passages
in the thickness of the walls. The lower and upper-
most chambers had fireplaces, and all three*- floors
appear to have formed part of the collegiate buildings.
The uppermost chamber was lighted from the large
panelled ' windows ' of the top stage, the lower parts
of which, however, were blocked. The theory that
the interior of the lantern had been cased and the
fireplaces added some time after its actual building
and that the stability of the tower was thus affected,*^
was not borne out by any structural evidence at the
time of demolition. No straight joint in the thickness
of the wall was found, the outer and inner stones
being tailed into the wall and built with lime mortar,
but the fiUing-in between was found to be of rubble
and mud. Upon removing the recessed stone
traceried panelling of the upper windows it was found
that on seven sides the spaces between the mullions
had been filled in with ironstone without bonding
into the mullions or jambs, and in tlie remaining one
(facing north) the filling was worked out of the solid
stone. The walls of the square tower from the bell-
chamber downwards were also constructed with a
filling of rubble, and it was found that as the walls got
thicker the proportion of rubble filling in the centre
increased in ratio, causing the walls to split apart
vertically and thus largely to crush and destroy the
wrought stone.*^ The failure of the 14th-century
structure therefore seems to have been due to an
unequal pressure of the lantern on walls of very
imperfect construction below, rather than to any
additional weight imposed later. As rebuilt, the
" In Bridgci' time the inicription wai
' on an antique marble in the area of the
chancel ' : it it piven a* ' Orate pro
anima Ricardi Fryieby primi Decani iitiui
Collegii qui obiit A" l><>' MCCCC ..."
1'hc indent in which the fragment remaini
meaiurei i8 in. by zj in. The dale of
death ii left incomplete.
" y.C.II. Notthanu. i, 409.
•' Deicribcd ibid. 414.
** The braiiei had been taVen away
before Bridget' time. He dctcribci the
monument at * an antique tabernacle
tomb of blue marble ' Hut. NoTthann.
ii, 23S. The tomb wat formerly under
the caiternmoit window on the louth
tide. It it described in detail in Cbi.
Ar^hii. iXorthampt. 125. Three of the sup-
porting shafts of the canopy arc of wood,
inserted about 1840 when the tomb wat
moved to its present position.
"* One of the old statuci remains.
•" In Chs. Archd. Korihampt. (1849).
*' Ibid. 118. It is nowhere stated in
what year the great cast buttress had been
built. It it ihown on all early drawingt
of the tower. During the procett of
demolition in 1887 the buttrcit wat found
to h.ive been insudiciciilly bonded into
the old work, thus ' adding weaknrst
rather than helping in the stability of the
lower ' : A!\. Arch. Soc. Rtfi. xxvii, 122.
212
" The middle chamber was of consider-
ably less height than the others.
*" This theory was set out in a report
by Sir Henry Drydcn, dated June 1879,
printed in An. Arch. Sec. Reps, xv,
p. xxxvi,
" Report of Mr. W. T.ilbot Brown,
F.S.A., architect, in Ass. Arch. Soc. Reps,
xxvii, 122. On removal, the strings, quoins,
weatherings, doors, steps, windows, trac-
ery, etc., were found to be so badly shat-
tered or crushed that their conveyance to
the ground became a difllcully : their re-
use was not possible. All the architectural
detail of the rebuilt tower is new.
HUXLOE HUNDRED irthlingborough
Untern retains its original internal features, but the
floor joists are left open to allow of greater dispersion
in the sound of the bells.
The doorway in the middle stage on the north side
of the tower no doubt gave access to a building on
tliat side, which was continued eastward as far as
the porch, covering and forming part of the existing
building between the porch and the tower. The
cellars of this structure, as already stated, still remain
and consist of two vaulted chambers about 6 ft.
high, one opening from the other. The larger is
entered from the chamber west of the porch and has
two bays of quadripartite vaulting in one of which the
boss bears the arms of Pyel : the smaller cellar north
of the tower is about 13 ft. square and has a more
complicated vault the boss of which is carved with
a rose. Both cellars are lighted by splayed windows
just above ground level.
The building between the porch and tower is
approximately the height of the second stage of the
tower, but its south wall has been rebuilt. On the
north side it is of two stories with a blocked pointed
doorway in each. From the ground floor the tower
is entered by a moulded doorway and in the south-cast
corner is a squint piercing the buttress and command-
ing the south doorway of the porch.
There are eight bells, two trebles by J. Taylor
and Co., of Loughborough, having been added in
1893 to a former ring of six cast by T. Mears of
London in 1829.**
The plate consists of a cup, paten, flagon, and two
plates with the London date-letter 1832-3, each
inscribed ' Irthlingboro' 1833.'**
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i)
baptisms and burials 1562-1739, marriages 1562-1738;
(ii) baptisms and burials 1739-1812, marriages
1739-1753; (iii) marriages 1754.-1812. The earlier
entries in the first volume were copied from an old
register book in the year 1603.
The church of St. Peter must be
ADVOWSON that church of Irthlingborough con-
firmed to Peterborough Abbey in the
charters of Eugenius III,*' Richard I,"* Henry III,**
and Edward III.* Pope Eugenius III also confirmed
to the abbey two parts of the tithes of the lordship
of Irthlingborough .2 In 1291 the value of the church
was £\6 ly. \d. a year, in addition to a pension of
£2 6s. Sd. paid to the abbot of Peterborough.^ In
1332 an inquisition having found that no wrong
would thus be done,* the abbot and convent of Peter-
borough received licence to grant to the parson of
St. Peter's Church in Irthlingborough, for the
enlargement of the rectory house, a messuage there,
in exchange for another messuage and an acre of
land in the same place.*
In 1388 the rectory became Irthlingborough
College* (q.v.) and the patronage was exercised
alternately by the heirs of the founder and the abbot
of Peterborough. This house, when dissolved, was
found to hold lands and other property to the value of
^73 4s. 9d. a year, and to have goods and chattels
variously returned as worth £6 1 p. ^d? and £"] y. 2d.*
The commissioners stated that ' a vicar of necessitie
is to be indowed there forasmuch as the master of
the seyd college is both vicar and person there.'
The college house, which was annexed to the church,
was roofed with lead.' The rectory, the advowson of
the vicarage and the church were, in 1581, granted by
the queen in fee-farm to Edward Downing and Peter
Ashton, the fee simple being vested in John Morley."
At this time the holder of the rectory was bound to
pay out £2^ ios. ^^d. a year, namely ^^13 6s. id.
to the curate for his stipend, 33^. ^d. to the dean and
chapter for their pension, and ^^^9 2;. \o\d. to them for
their due rent, 13;. ^d. to the bishop for his pension
and is. ^d. to him for the visitation of Irthlingborough
College, and 10/. ()d. to the Archdeacon of North-
ampton for synodals and procurations.** In 1597
Irthlingborough rectory was conveyed to Edward
Vaux, Lord Harrowden, by Sir Thomas Tresham and
others.*^ It is not clear when the advowson passed
to this family. Thomas Infield, clerk, in 1639 peti-
tioned Archbishop Laud, who had, he alleged,
licensed him in 1633, during a vacancy of the bishopric
of Peterborough, to serve the cure of St. Peter's,
Irthlingborough. He stated that subsequently
William Crane, clerk, had been nominated to the cure
by Edward, Lord Vaux, and that the archbishop,
by an oversight, had licensed him. George Broughton,
Lord Vaux's bailiflF, had seized the keys of the church
and kept Infield out of it, so that on Sunday, 21
October 1638, there had been no service. Infield
declared that the records had been searched and the
church found to be a vicarage to which the king
presented, institution and induction being by the
archbishop. Crane counterpetitioned, stating that
he was a poor man with a wife and eight children and
no means of subsistence except his curacy, and that
Infield had created a disturbance in the church.
The Court of High Commission found in favour of
Infield, Broughton and Crane being ordered to make
submission and the former fined /20 and the latter
^10. Crane was also ordered to pay costs. '^
It seems to have been established that the advowson
was vested in the Crown, for in 1641 the receiver of
the king's revenues for Northamptonshire was directed
to stay payment to Thomas Infield of the stipend due
to him as curate of Irthlingborough, since he was
acting as vicar and claiming tithes.** The advowson
of St. Peter's vicarage, as well as the rectory, was,
however, settled in 1646,** 1651*" and 1655" on
Nicholas, first Earl of Banbury, the holder of the
manor. From him both the rectory and the advowson
of the vicarage passed to his son Charles, the second
" North, Ch. Bills of Norihanii. J 12.
The inscription on the tenor records that
five old bells were ' exchanged for this
peal of six a.d. 1829.'
•• Mirkham, Ch. Plate of Nortbonli. 165.
•^ Sparke, HtU. Cotn. Burg. Script. Far.
(Hugo Candidus). 78.
" Col. Chan. 1327-41, p. 275.
•• Ibid. 1226-57, p. iq.
' Ibid. 1 327-4 >> P- VS-
* Sptrke, op. cit. 82.
• Popt Nich. Tax. fRec. Com), \oh.
• Inq. a. q. d. F.ccxxiii, no. 4 ; Cal.
Inij. a. (j. d. (Rec. Com), 294.
' Cal. Pat. 1330-34, p- 405.
• Ibid. 1385-9, p. 42S.
' Chant. Cert. 36, no. 3.
' Ibid. 35, no. 10.
•Ibid.
'» Cal. Chan. Proc. Eliz. (Rec. Com),
i, 105.
" Pat. R. 23 Elii. pt. i, m. 19.
213
" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 39 Eliz.
'• Cal. S. P. Dom. 1639-40, pp. 123,
156; 1640, p. 399; 1640-41, p. 381.
George Broughton ii sometimes called
Draughton.
'« Cal. S. P. Dom. 1625-49, p. 751.
■' Feet of F. Northants. Chas. I, 22
March 1646.
'• Ibid Hil. 1651.
" Ibid. Mich. 1655.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
earl.'* He in 1694 conveyed these rights to Thomas
and George Watson,'' and in 1696 George Watson
conveyed them to Thomas Wentworth, aUas Watson,
and his wife Alice.^" This Thomas, the third son of
Lewis Watson, first Earl of Rockingham, had in 1695
inherited the estates of his mother's brother, the
second Earl of Strafford, and had then assumed the
additional surname of Wentworth. He was created
Baron and Ear! Malton, and inherited the earldom of
Rockingham in 1746. In 1738 he presented to the
vicarage William Knowler, who a year later published
Thi Earl of Strafford's Letters and Despatches from the
collection inherited by his patron.-' Lord Malton
was created Marquess of Rockingham in 1746 and
died in 1 750, leaving a son and heir Charles, who died
without issue in 1782, when the rectory and advowson
of Irthlingborough passed to his sister's son, William,
fourth Earl Fitzwilliam.^- They are now in tlie
tenure of George Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam,
grandson of the fifth earl.
The church of .411 Saints followed the descent of the
Bataille fee to 1 2 14, when William de la Bataille
FiTZWILLIAM. Lozetioy
argent and gules.
Wenttworth. Sable a
cbeveron belv)ei;n three
leopards' beads or.
eave the advowson to the abbot and convent of
Peterborough in exchange for lands in the tenure of
Nicholas, son of Geoffrey.'^'' In 131 3 the pope gave
to Robert de Bukyngham, alias de Selford, rector,
dispensation to accept another benefice of the value
of £.^o.^* John de Thornton was provided to the
church in I 328, and on his death in the same year the
king successfully claimed the right to present during
a vacancy of tlie abbacy.^* After the Dissolution tiic
rectory, namely, the great and small tithes, the house
and the glebe, was worth lo6s. Sd.'^^ The advowson
of the rectory was granted in 1541 to the dean and
chapter of Peterborough^' who presented in 1661
and 1664.^* Tlie bishop collated in 1675, but in
1646, 1651, 1655 and 16832' the advowson of All
Saints together with that of St. Peter was settled as
parcel of the estates of the earls of Ilarrowden. Tiic
church, as already stated, had fallen into ruin and ihe
site and parsonage seem to have passed with the
manor (q.v.)
William Trigg built a school and
CII ,1 RITIES an almshouse in two tenements and
by his will, dated 25 I'cb. 1728,
cliargcd his lands with renlcharges amounting to
^^27 4J. The charity is regulated by a scheme of the
Cliarity Commissioners dated 18 May 1897, pursuant
to which rentcharges of £\j and ^l issuing out of
various properties in Finedon and Irthlingborough,
including the house at Irthlingborough in which the
founder lived, were made the endowments of a separate
charity called the Educational and Ecclesiastical
Charity of William Trigg. £1"] is applied to the
National School and £\ to the rector, the trustees
being the incumbent, churchwarden and two
others.
The remaining rentcharges issuing out of various
pieces of land in Irthlingborough, and amounting to
£() 4s. yearly, form the endowment of William Trigg's
charity for the poor. The trustees are the incumbent
and two others appointed by the U.D.C. £1 is paid to
each of the two inmates of the almshouse, ^^i 4J. is
distributed to poor widows, and the balance in
coal.
Richard Glover, by indenture dated I July 1 801,
settled his land in trustees for the benefit of the poor
people of the Society of Friends and charged the same
with j^io yearly for the benefit of the poor of the
parish. The land known as Glover's Charity Farm,
and containing about 177 acres with farmhouse and
buildings, was sold in 1916 and the proceeds were
invested in ;^2,387 lis. id. Metropolitan Water Board
Stock, £()i6 'is. 2d. 5 per cent. War Stock, £3,793
H)s. lod. 3J per cent. Conversion Stock, and ;^2,530
3^. 2d. Liverpool Corporation 5^ per cent. Red.
Stock with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds,
producing ^£389 is. yearly in dividends
There are five trustees each of whom is entitled to
£1 Is. yearly for his own use ; £10 is distributed to
the poor at Christmas and the residue is applicable
for the benefit of poor Quakers.
The Church Land : — An allotment was awarded
on an inclosure to the churchwardens in lieu of
lands previously appropriated to the repairs of the
Church. The property consists of 19 a. 2 r. 22 p. of
land abutting on Marsh Lane and is leased to the
U.D.C. at a rent of j^70 per annum.
The Irthlingborough Nurses' Home Trust was
founded by indenture dated 4 June 1921. The
indenture recites that during the late War a fund
was raised called the Northamptonshire Regimental
Prisoners of War Fund, and as the objects for whicii
had been completely s.itisfied and a balance of
/[l,059 left in the hands of the Prisoners of War
Committee, it was determined to apply the balance for
the purposes of the Irthlingborough Nurses' Home
Tiust to provide accommodation for a nursing staff
for the parish and for the stretchers and other appli-
ances belonging to the St. John Ambulance Associa-
tion. /[615, part of the sum of ^^1,059, was applied in
the purchase of three tenements known as Nos. 27,
29 and 31 Victoria Street, which premises are used
for the purposes of the trust. The trustees con-
sist of the rector for the time being and four
others.
'• Fcrt of F. Northanii, Trin. 35
Chai. II.
'• Ibid. nil. (, Win. III.
'» Ibid. Mich. 8 Wm. Ill ; InMit. Bin.
(H.R O).
" Ibid. 1 D.N.B.
" JnsM.BVt. (r'.V..O.); G.¥..C. Peerage,
vi, 38r..
'- Colt. MS. CIcop. Cii,p. 13.
" Cal. Pup. l.rtirn, ii, 116.
" Dc Banco R. 347, in. 150.
" Valor Ectl. (Rcc. Com.), iv, 311.
" /,. and P. Urn. nil, vol. xvi, g. 1226
(10).
»" Inilit. Bkr (I'.R O.).
'" Fcpt of F. Northants. Chai. 1,
11 March 164^1 ) Hi!. 1651 ; Mich. 16;; ;
Trin. 35 Chai. II.
214
HUXLOK HUNDRED
ISLIP
Slcpe, Yttcslepc, Isteslcpe (xi cent.) ; Hystlcpa
(xii cent.), Eslcp, Ittcslcp (xiii cent.).
The parish of Islip covers an area of 1,383 acres.
The surface of the parish is undulating. Liable to
floods in the vicinity of the Nenc, it rises about 250 ft.
in the north-west, and in the east is mostly about
too ft. above ordnance datum. The soil, which
varies in quality, is mainly clay and i;r.i\cl, with .1
subsoil of clay and ironstone. Harper's Brook,
which flows into the Nenc, forms its northern boun-
dary, and separates it from Aldwinkle. There is a
bridge over this brook to carry the road to Aldwinkle,
with the mill stream near by. The Nene, flowing
northward, forms its eastern boundary, and the parish
is divided from \\ oodford on the south by a stre.im
flowing east into that river. A little to the north of
this stream is the Kettering, Thrapston, and Hun-
tingdon brancli of the I. .M.S. Railway, which lias a
station about half a mile away in Twywell. The
Northampton and Peterborough branch of the London
Midland and Scottish Railway traverses the southern
corner of the parish, and a tramway takes a circuitous
route to the Islip furnaces in the south-west, where
the Islip Iron Company have valuable mines of iron
stone, and three smelting furnaces. There are old
quarries in the same direction. A fine white stone is
quarried for building ; and good stone for repair of
roads. Besides the iron work and quarrying carried
on, the manufacture of horse collars and matting
was a considerable industry. The population was
616 in 1921.
The village lies along the road from Lowick to
Woodford. It has a charming situation and contains
a fair number of 17th and 1 8th century stone houses,
roofed with thatch, stone slates or pantiles, with good
stone chimneys. The newer houses generally are of
red brick. The manor house probably of Drayton
manor, on the east side of the street, now occupied
by Mr. Waller, is a modernised 17th-century gabicd
building with mullioned windows and tiled roof.
The Norwyches manor house is possibly the 17th-
century two-storied cottage, with stone slated roof,
on the opposite side of the road a little to the north.
It has its end gable and chimney to the street, but
only one mullioned window is now left. Inside there
are the remains of an oak staircase and two stone
fireplaces. The Rose and Crown Inn, in the middle
of the village, is dated 1691, but is without architec-
tural features, and two other houses are dated re-
spectively 1744 and 1763. At the north end of the
main street is a house dated f;fj and another at the
south end {jj,. The recreation ground on the west
side of the village street was presented by Mr. S. G.
Stopford Sackville as a memorial of the Great War
(1914.-18). The public elementary school, erected by
subscription in 1862 (and enlarged in 1883 and again
in 1894), on a site given by William Bruce Stopford,
then lord of the manor, is somewhat south of the
church ; ind there is an infants' school, built in
1905, on a site given by Mr. S. G. Stopford
Sackville.
The rectory house, a substanti.il stone building,
stands on the north-west of the cluircii. A reading
room, with billiard room and small library, was built
in 1897 by public subscription. Two almshouses
for two poor widows were erected under the will
(d. 1705), of Henry Medbury, a member of a family
long connected with the parish, Thomas Medbury
having been instituted rector in 1646-7. The alms-
houses form a pleasing block on the east side of
the main street, with good end gables, middle chimney
and dormer windows to the upper floor, but the
windows and chimney are modern and the roof
is covered with modern blue slates. The inscription
on the tablet is indecipherable : only the figure; of
the date [i] 7 [o] 5 can he distinguished.
Chapel Lane led to the chapel of Si. Thomas of
Canterbury^ on the bridge over the Nene on the road
to Thrapston. I.eland wrote c. 1 545 'At the very
end of Thrapeston Bridge stand Ruines of a very large
hermitage welle buildcd but a late discovered and
suppressed : and hard by is the Toune of Islep on
Avon as upon the further Ripe.'^ Bridges says that
the ruins referred to by Leland were probably those of
the chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, in a close called
Hermitage close on the right hand from Thrapston ' in
which stood several stews of water.' The chapel was
standing in 1400, when William Mareschal, chaplain,
had the custody of the king's free chapel or hermitage
at the end of the bridge of Islip.^ In 1492, Henry Vere
bequeathed 10/. to the chapel. It is described as one
of two chapels annexed to the mother church of
Islip.* The bridge has no architectural features, and
is of uncertain date It consists of seven round arches,
and has four cut-waters facing up stream and two
down stream ; the arches are of yellow brick and the
superstructure of stone. The view from the bridge
towards Islip is very picturesque.
In the Domesday Survey i hide I
M.4N0RS virgate of land were entered as held of
the Bishop of Coutances by Algar in
ISLIP in the hundred of Huxloe.^ Before the taking
of the 12th-century Northamptonshire Survey, the
lands of this bishop had been forfeited, and his lands
in Islip, with an addition making a total of 2 hides,
h.id passed into the hands of Aubrey [dc Vere], the
chamberlain, by whom they were held of the king's
fee.* From this date the manor has passed with that
of Drayton in Lowick parish (q.v.). The bishop's
manor of Drayton in Lowick had also passed to
Aubrey,' who made a grant of tithes from land in
Islip, Drayton and Addington to Thorney Abbey,
which his son Robert confirmed. In 1584 the manor
place and close in Islip called the Lords Lands, in
which was the chief messuage of the manor, were the
subject of a suit.'
* The patronage of thii chapel was in
diipute between Henry de Drayton and
Gervate dc Islip in 1231 and 1232.
Gcrrate maintained his right as patron
of the mother church of Islip. There
were no tithes nor right of sepulture
belonging to the chapel : Maitl.ind,
Bracton't Note Bh. 625, 693.
' Itinerary^ i, 8.
* Cal. Pat. 1309-1401, p. 197.
* Red Bk. of Thorney, pt. 4, fol. iv.
' y.C.U. Northanti. i, 31 14.
» Ibid. 365.
' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. ii, 603, nos.
27, 23 ; Chart. R. 22 Edw. Ill, m. 26,
no. 36.
• Ct. of Req. lix, 17.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
NORWrCHES MANOR may have had its origin
as a member of the royal manor of Brigstock called
Slepe.' It was possibly the manor to which the
advowson of the church (q.v.) was attached. Gervase
son of Richard de Islip, living in 1230,1' was succeeded
by his son Adam.'* Lands were held by Hugh son
of William de Islip, in 1238,'^ and John and Simon
de Islip in 1329.''' Master Simon de Islip, parson
of Horncastle in Lincolnshire, possibly a son of John,
or at least a member of this family, in 1 348 requested
licence to alienate land in mortmain for a chaplain to
celebrate daily there for the souls of his father and
mother, John and Margaret dc Islip, and William,
Thomas, and Richard de Islip, his brothers, and
others.'* In 1376 Alice, widow of William de Islip,
quit-claimed to John Holt and his wife Alice, and the
heirs of the said John Holt, all lands, rents, reversions
and services of free men and neifs in the towns of Islip,
Lowick, Aldwinkle, Grafton by Cranford, and Wood-
ford, formerly belonging to the said William de Islip
and Millicent de Islip.'* The lands of Sir John Holt,
Kt. (justice of the Common Pleas) were forfeited in
1388, but restored to his son John in 1391.'^ John
the son died in 1419 and was succeeded by his son
Hugh, and he in 1420 by his brother Richard Holt,
clerk,'*^ from whom this manor descended in 1451-2
to his next heir Simon Norwich." John Norwich, the
son of Simon, died in 1504 seised of a manor of Islip
held of the Earl of Wiltshire, which he had settled
on his wife Katherine ; his
son and heir John was aged
thirteen.'* John Norwich died
in 1557 seised of this manor,
and left a son and heir Simon
Norwich, aged 19. Margaret,
the widow of Simon the grand-
father, was still living at
Leicester in 1558, and Alice,
the widow of her son John, at
Brampton." Simon Norwich
was dealing with this manor
with Brampton, Cotterstock,
etc., in 1579,^ and in 1594 it was held by Charles
Nonvich, and Anne his wife, who then conveyed it
as the manor of Islip alias Norwiches Manor to Sir
Lewis Mordaunt, Lord Mordaunt," to whom the
overlordship already belonged as representative of the
heirs of the earls of Wiltshire, and with whose other
manor it then descended.
A member of the family, Ascan Norwich, was
holding a messuage or farm and 40 acres of land in
Islip at his death there on 20 May 1 630, in socage of
the heirs of Katherine Green and was succeeded by
his son John.^*
In the 12th-century Northamptonshire Survey 4
sokemen of the king were entered as holding a hide
in Islip of the fee of Westminster Abbey.^' This
Norwich. Party gules
and azurf a lion ermine.
was possibly the land in Islip formerly belonging to
Hugh de Morevill for which Robert, son of Hawise
of IsHd, claimed quittance before the barons of the
Exchequer in II90-I." It was held by Reginald de
Waterville in 1284 as 5 virgates of land in Islip, of
the abbey of Westminster, which the abbot held of
the king in chief.-* The abbey was holding £"] in
rent in Sudborough and Islip c. 1291.^^* Their land
was possibly that which John de Tolthorp was holding
in 1 3 16."
Water mills in Islip, known in 1624 as Drawater
Mills, were the subject of dispute.-* Possibly the
mills were those held with Norwyches Manor.
An inclosure Act for the parish was passed in 1800."
Allotments were made {inter alia) for shares in the
Low Town Leys and in Lammas ground called the
Five Leys Close. The common or open fields were
estimated at about 1,320 acres.
The church of ST. NICHOLAS con-
CHURCH sists of chancel 30 ft. by 15 ft. 3 in. with
vestry on the north side, clearstoried
nave of four bays 42 ft. 4 in. by 15 ft. 4 in., north
and south aisles 8 ft. 6 in. wide, south porch, and
west tower and spire. The width across nave and
aisles is 37 ft., all these measurements being internal.
The church is of one period throughout, having
been rebuilt in the latter part of the 15th century,
and is a very perfect example of a village church of
that date, unaltered in plan and little changed by
restoration. At the east end of the nave outside is
a roof table wider and of higher pitch than that of
the present chancel,** which seems to indicate that
the body of the church was built on to an earlier
chancel, which was afterwards pulled down and the
present one erected. The whole structure, however,
is uniform in design, and its situation on rising ground
above the valley of the Nene makes its spire a pro-
minent landmark.
With the exception of the upper stage of the tower,
which is of dressed stone, the whole of the building
is of rubble, with flat-pitched leaded roofs and plain
parapets. The walls are plastered internally. The
building was restored in 1854-55, new roofs being
then erected and the nave reseated.
The chancel is of two bays and has a four-centred
east window of five cinquefoiled lights and diagonal
angle buttresses. On the south side are two three-light
windows and one in the west bay on the north, the
east end of the north wall being covered by the
vestry," which was built about 1881 on the site of
an old vestry which had long disappeared ; the doorway
of the old vestry alone remained. At the cast end
of the south wall, set within the window splay, to
which it also opens, is a piscina recess with fluted
bowl, with which is combined a rectangular aumbry
in the thickness of the angle of the wall. The chancel
arch is of two orders, the outer with a hollow chamfer
• V.C.II. Ncrlbanli. i, 305A.
■" Rtl. Iluf. de IVellei. (Cant, and Vurk
boc.;, ii, 133, 151,236.
" Drayton Chart. 83.
'•Feet of F. Northanti. caici73,file 28,
no. 370.
" Bridgci, //ill. Ncrlbanli. ii, 239.
'* Cat. Pal. 1348-50, pp. 127-8, 374.
'» Cal. Cloie, 1 374-7, p. 3''<o.
"Cfl/. Pal. 1388-92, p. 236.
'•• .Str Churchficid in Oundlc.
" Bridgci, Hill. Ntribami. ii, 265.
John dc Tolthorp rclcaied lands in Wood-
foid, ai brother and heir of Gilbert flon
of (Gilbert dc Tolthnrp, in 1353 to Sir
Richard Chamberlain, Kt. (Clo»c R.
27 Ed. Ill, n).8), which poniibly indicate!
a connection with John dc Tolthorp in
Itlip.
'" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xviii, 54.
'* Ibid, cxii, 1 15.
" Feet of r. Div. Coi. Trin. 21 Elii.
" Ibid. Northanti, Trin. 3^ Elii.
" Chan. In<i. p.m. (.Scr. ii), dxc, I.
216
"V.C.II. Northanti. i, 365.
" Pipe R. 2 Ric. I, m. 43. Moreville
here m.iy be a slip for Waterville.
" t'eud. .lids, iv, 12.
•" Pope Nub. Tax. 55A.
•' Feud, .itdfj iv, It).
" Chan. Proc. fScr. 2), ccclxvi, 37.
" Priv. St.it. 40 Ceo. Ill, cap 2.
"■* It extend" downwards along part of
the eait walli of the aislci.
•' rhe veitry ii 9 ft. 6 in. long by 9 ft.
wide internally.
w
u
u
.>!,i^&d
»' -
// y
u
HUXLOE HUNDRED
ISLIP
continued to the ground, and the inner on attached
shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The oak
screen, with rood and attendant figures, is modcrn.''-
The arches of the nave arcades are of two orders,
like the chancel arch, but have an ogee curve at the
top, and spring from piers of unusual type, in plan
an oblong set north and south, down the angles of
which the outer hollow chamfered order is carried,
and with attached shafts east and west : the responds
are of similar character. The tower arch is also of
the same tvpe. All the shafts have moulded capitals
and high moulded bases, and the uniformity in design
and detail make the interior of the church one of
much dignity and beauty. The north and south
doorways occupy the second bay from the west, each
of the other bays having a recessed three-light window
similar to those in the chancel, with wall benches
below the sills. There is a piscina at the east end
of the north aisle,*'* in the jamb of the respond, the
bowl of which is partly cut away, and to the east of
the south doorway a groined niche for a stoup, the
supporting half-octagonal shaft of which still re-
mains.
The clearstory windows, four on each side, are
four-centred and of two cinqucfoiled lights, and
there are similar windows in the side walls of the
porch. Over the outer moulded doorway of the porch
is a niche containing a modern figure of St. Nicholas.
The tower is of four stages, marked by strings,
and has wide clasping buttresses and battlemented
parapets with crocketed angle pinnacles and gar-
goyles. The moulded west doorway is set within
a rectangular frame with quatrefoiled circles in the
spandrels, and above it is a three-light window. On
the north and south the two lower stages are blank,
but in the third stage on each side is a small rectangular
opening containing a quatrefoiled circle. The bell-
chamber windows are of two trefoiled lights, with
quatrefoil in the head and ogee hoodmoulds.
Below the parapet is a band of quatrcfoils set
lozengewise. There is a vice in the north-west
angle. The spire is crocketed and has two tiers of
lights, the lower on the cardinal and the others on
the diagonal faces.
The font appears to be of 13th century date, and
consists of a plain octagonal bowl on eight short
attached shafts without bases or capitals.
The chancel contains wall monuments to Mary,
wife of Sir John Washington, kt., of Thrapston, and
daughter of Philip Curtis, who died in January,
1624-5, and to Katharine, wife of Philip Curtis {d.
1626). In the floor is a modern brass commemorating
John NicoU (./. 1467) and Annys his wife, placed here
in 19IQ by their descendants in the United States of
America.''^
There are some fragments of old glass in one of the
windows.^' The modern glass in the east window is
of great excellence.
The pulpit and all the fittings are modern. The
organ is in a loft at the west end below the tower.
There are six bells, the first and third by Henry
Bagley of Chacomb 1678, and the others by J.
Taylor & Co., of Loughborough, 1892.*'
The plate consists of a cup of 1570, a paten of
c. 1682, a silver gilt cup and paten 1883, a cup and
paten of I917, and a bread box of I925. There is
also a pewter flagon.^*
The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i) bap-
tisms and burials 1695-1754, marriages 1695-1753;
(ii) baptisms and burials 1755-1809 ; (iii) baptisms and
burials 1810-1812 ; (iv) marriages 1755-1812.
The graveyard was extended eastward as far as the
main street in I927, and a lych gate, erected in 1903 to
the north east of the church, was moved to form an
entrance from the road. The War Memorial en the
north side of the church was designed by Mr. Temple
Moore.
The advowson was held by the
ADVOWSON Islip family. In 1202 Joscelin de
Islip was holding lands in the parish^'
and some twenty-five years later Gervase son of
Richard de Islip held lands, apparently a manor,
here.'* This Gervase, it would seem, presented to the
church in 1227-8 and 1230.'" He married Eustachia
and had three sons, Adam, Hugh and Joscelin.'"' In
1248 Eustachia, then the wife of de Pavilly,
claimed the advowson against her son Adam, and it
was seized by the king by default of Adam.*' In
1253 Thomas de Pavilly agreed to presentation being
made by the King if the next presentation were made
by himself.'- In the mcanwliile in 1264 Baldwin de
Vere claimed the advowson by grant of Adam, son
of Gervase Islip, to his father Robert de Vere.*'
Thomas de Pavilly said that his mother Eustachia had
enfeoffed him of the advowson, which she had
obtained from her son Adam de Islip. Baldwin evi-
*• The icrcen, stalls and reredos were
erected in 19U by Dclancy NicuH and
Benjamin NicoU, of New \'ork, to com-
memorate their ancestor. Matthias NicoU,
who, as secretary of the Duke of York's
expedition to America in 1664 and after
the capture of New Amsterdam, became
mayor of New York in 1671, Speaker of
the first Colonial Assembly, writer of the
Duke's Laws. He died 22 December
i6'?7, and was buried at Manhasset, Long
Island, U.S. .A. [from inscription on
icrcenj. In 1570 the churchwardens were
presented for not having taken down the
rood loft. Scrjeantson MS.
*'' There is reference to the altar of the
Blessed Mary in this church of Islip in an
undated charter. Drayton Chart, no. 58.
" Bridges records ' the portrait of a
woman in brass ' in the chancel, but the
inscription at her feet had gone. A copy
had been kept, which he gives (//.jr.
Noribanli. ii, 141). Thi* it reproduced
on the new brass. The new brass with
figures of John and Annys [not Amys]
.NicoU has this inscription around verge :
* An ancient stone bearing elhgies and
inscription as here depicted lay near this
spot and to commemorate their ancestors
the descendants of John and Annys NicoU
in the United States of America have
caused this memorial to be placed a.d.
.MCMX.' The old inscription, i+f)?, is
reproduced, and the two figures.
" Bridges (op. cit. ii, 240) notes heraldic
glass in one of the south windows of the
chancel, a figure of a man praying in one
of the north aisle windows, and ' some
imperfect portraits ' in other windows.
'^ There were five bells before 1892,
when a tenor was added and the second,
third and fifth were recast. The old
second and third were by Bagley 1678,
and thefifthbyHughVVattsII of Leicester
1621. The inscriptions are given in
.North, Cb. Billi oj Norlbant%. 313.
217
>» Markham, CA. PlatcoJ Northants. 166.
The modern cups are of mediaeval design,
the later one given in 1919.
*•' Feet of F. Northants. case 171,
file 10, no. 154.
'^ Drayton charters 50; Joscelin de Islip
and Peter his brother were witnesses to
this deed. Close R. 12 Hen. Ill, no. loi/ ;
Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. oS.
" lioi. Huz- de ll'elln (Cant, and York
Soc), ii, 133, ii;i, 23O.
"> Drayton Chart. 83.
*' AssiicR. East. 32 Hen. III. 6a.
'■ Cal. Pal. 1247-58, pp. 185, 203.
*■' The charter is among the Drayton
Charters (no. 83) whereby Adam, son of
Gervase de Islip, granted a rod of land
and the advowson of the Church of the
Blessed Nicholas of Islip to Robert de
\'ere, knt., to hold of Adam and his
heirs. Hugh son of Gervase and
Josccline his brother were witneiset.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
dently won his case, and in 1277-8 the presentation
was made by Sir Baldwin Wake as guardian of the
heir of Baldwin de V'ere.''' From this time the ad-
vowson followed the descent of the manor, which was
the same as that of Drayton (q.v.).
The charity of Henry Medbury,
CHARITIES founded by will dated 27 December,
1705, is administered by the rector
and four co-optative trustees in conformity with a
scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 12 Feb.
1S92. The property originally consisted of two alms-
houses, land, and tenements in Earls Barton and Islip.
The land was sold in 1920 and the proceeds invested
in sums of £z,\(p ijs. 2d. Consols and ^^1,900 6j. 8 J.
4 per cent. Funding Stock with the Official Trustees
of Charitable Funds, producing £138 ^1. 6d. yearly in
dividends. The Official Trustees also hold a sum of
^£130 15J. 4^/. Consols to a Rebuilding Fund Account
the dividends upon which are invested in augmenta-
tion of the principal.
In 1924 j^26 was paid to the two almswomcn, who
are widows and members of the Church of England.
The almswomen must be inhabitants of Islip, or,
failing that parish, then of Earls Barton. Failing
Earls Barton, then of any of the following parisiies :
Thrapston, Slipton, Twpvell, Lowick, Denford,
Woodford, Titchmarsh or Aldwinklc.
Four clergymen's widows receive £20 each, the
Vicar of Earls Barton receives £l, and ^3 is paid to
him for distribution to the poor of that parish. £j
is also applied by the rector and churchwardens of
Islip in doles at Christmas to 30 recipients.
KETTERING
Cytringan, Kyteringas (x cent.) ; Cateringe (xi
cent.) ; Keteringes, Ketteringe (xii, xiii cent.).
The civil parish and urban district of Kettering
covers 2,814 *t^tes, of which the town occupies the
greater part ; there are still, however, over 1,000 acres
of pasture and arable land growing corn and roots.
The soil is iron and lime stone, and in 1766 borings
were unsuccessfully made for coal. The land rises
from the River Ise on the east and a stream on the
west to a height of a little over 300 ft. above the
ordnance datum. Objects of the Bronze Age and the
Romano-Briti;h and Anglo-Saxon periods have been
found in the parish, suggesting an early settlement of
the district.
The town stands on high ground and probably
owes its importance to the fact that it is a centre of
the road system of the Midlands. In 1086 and
probably before, Kettering was a prosperous agri-
cultural manor and grew into a trading town with the
grant to the abbot of Peterborough of a market here
on Fridays, in 1227.' The building of a ' noble hall '
faced with stone, by Walter, abbot of Peterborough
(1233-45)-, added to the importance of the town and
brought traffic to it when the abbot was in residence
there. The town remained a prosperous market
town down to the dissolution of Peterborough .'\bbcy
in 1540. Leland refers to it about 1535 as a ' pratie
market town,' and Camden, about 1600, as a market
town of considerable resort. Owing to its easy access
from all parts, it was selected in 1625 as the place for
holding the quarter sessions'" whicii gave it increased
importance in the county. In 1613 the justices
petitioned that the sessions might be held alternately
at Northampton and Kettering,' but this apparently
was not done, and in 1629 the Earl of Wesunorlaiid,
then Custos Rotulorum, built in tlic IMarket Place
' a very fair sessions house.' A reference at this lime
to the old session house suggests that the sessions had
been held there for a long time previously. It was
said that the town could accommodate all those who
usually appeared at tlie winter session of tlie five
hundreds and those who attended could return home
the same night after they had done their service,
' whereas when the session was at Northampton they
were forced to lie there two nights at charges.''
Kettering was also a meeting place of the musters,
and, as the musters were held almost annually, the
billeting and payments to the muster master became
a burden to the inhabitants for which repayment was
very irregularly made.*
During the Civil War, Kettering's sympathies were
mainly on the Parliamentary side. The imposition
of ship-money was strongly resented. Francis
Sawyer, brother of Edward Sawyer who lived at the
Manor House in 1638, refused to pay this tax and
assaulted the collectors,' and in 1640 the grand jury
at the quarter sessions held at Kettering complained
to the Bench that there was ' a great and unsupport-
able grievance lying upon the county under the name
of ship-money to be raised for providing of ships, for
which their goods were forcibly taken and detained.'
They prayed for redress from a burden which they
were not well able to bear.* In August following,
there was a meeting of ministers of the neighbourhood
at tlic ' Swan ' in Kettering to consider the oath in
' the late Book of Canons ' known as the ' Etcetera
0.1th.' Those attending resolved never to take the
oath but rather to lose their livings." Led by the
Sawyer family, Kettering remained Puritan in sym-
pathy throughout the Civil War, although for a time
in 1643 it was a rendezvous for the royal troops.'"
The town suffered severely from the plague in
1665, which claimed some 80 victims." The justices
of the peace presented a petition to the Bishop of
Peterborough, calling attention to the distressed con-
dition of the town by reason of the plague and asking
for relief out of tlic money collected.'^
Tlic failure of the crops in 1795 was the cause of
much distress, and bread riots took place at Kettering ;
wagons loaded with flour passing through the town
had to be protected by soldiers, wlio were attacked by
the niob.'^
'* Rol, Rich, dt Gravtiend (Cant, and
York Soc), xTvi, p. 133.
' Cal. Chan, i, 21.
' AH.1. MS. (n.M,)io25, i34.
• IJuke ol Uucclcuch, lliil. MSS. Com.
Rtf. i, 168.
• Cal. S. v. Dom. 1611-1S, p. 218.
' F. W. Hull, lint, of KclUrini;, p. 16.
'Cal. S. P. Dorn. 1629-31, p. 452;
Hill. MSS. Com. Rfp. x, App. vi. p. 32.
' Cal. S. I'. Pom. 163K-31J, pp. 5-16, 34,
36,45, l6i, 455; 1625.49,588.
218
" Ibid. 1639-40, p. 312.
' Cj/. S. I'. IJom. 1640, pp. 636-8, 644 ;
1640-41, 7 ; Hull, op. cit. 19, 20.
'" llull.cip, al. 20,21. "Ibid. I".P. 32.
" L.msdownc MS. 1027, p. 155^, 158.
'•Bull, op. cit. 38.
Kettkrinc : Old lloust in IIazi.i.wood Lani;
1
■
X
, ^^ "C*^.
-
pi
^:w.^-^: W
■p-
,.nj,,„ J,
yr FTrn
a
Kettering : The Sawyer Almshouses
HUXLOE HUNDRED
KETTERING
About 1700, Kettering is described in the Maptia
Britannica as ' a well traded popidous market town '
which owed its prosperity wholly to the woollen manu-
facture, introduced by Mr. Jordan and then still
carried on by his posterity. About 20 years later
Bridges described Kettering as ' a large and populous
town ' containing 566 houses and 2,645 inhabitants.
The market place lay to the north-west of the church,
in the middle of which, dividing the Sheep Market
from the Butcher Row, was a row of houses later
known as Rotten Row. At the end of Butcher Row
was the Sessions House, ' a good stone building sup-
ported by pillars ' ; eastward was Newland pond and
in one of the pond walls was fixed a piece of the stump
of a cross. ' Coming out of the north end of Newland
and crossing the stone pit Leys,' where stone was then
dug ' you descend by going westward into Staunch
Lane, so named from pellucid or vitrified stones,
which from the shape of some of them are called
Kitcats and are seemed good for staunching blood.'
They are also found in several other shapes in the clay
used for making brick and sometimes near the surface
of the ground.'*
The growth of the town through the latter part of
the 19th century was rapid. Besides the woollen
trade already alluded to, silk, plush and ribbon
weaving, linen making, lace making and wool combing
were carried on, and bells were cast at a foundry at
W'adecroft Lane from c. 1710 to 1762 by the Eayre
family. All these trades save the bell foundry were
prosperous at the beginning of the 19th century,
but they gradually gave place to the manufacture of
boots and shoes, a trade said to have been introduced
by Thomas Gotch about 1790. It was not, however,
till about 1857 that this industry developed, and it
greatly increased in 1870 during the Franco-German
war. Railway communication, which reached the
town in 1857 when the Leicester and Hitchin Railway
was opened, also helped towards its prosperity. Since
this date Kettering has become an important railway
centre. Previously the means of communication had
been by one coach which passed through the town
from Uppingham to Wellingborough, and an omnibus
to the latter place.
In connexion with the woolcombing industry there
were processions on the festival of St. Blaise (3 Feb-
ruary)'* the patron saint of the trade, the last of which
took place in 1829.
The old town of Kettering lay on the west side of
the main road from Wellingborough to Uppingham.
Eayre's map of the town made about 1720 (here repro-
duced) gives a good idea of its extent at that date.
The fires which devastated it in 1744 and 1766 have
left little in the nature of old buildings. The Sessions
House built by the Earl of Westmorland in 1629,''''
which stood in the Market Place as already mentioned,
was pulled down in 1805. The Market Place was
rciYiodclled at the end of the l8th century; the line
of thatched shops called Rotten Row in the middle of
the Market Place, was pulled down between 1785 and
1789. The cross, with a dungeon or lock-up under it,
which stood close to the old .Market House near the
entrance to the churchyard, w.is removed about 1 790.
The smaller cross which was erected on the site of
the old cross was destroyed about 1808. Near it
stood the stocks, later moved to Hog Leys, the whip-
ping post and pillory.'"
'Fhe Sawyer almshouses in Sheep Street were
formerly of one story with high-pitched roof and
dormer windows, but the walls have been heightened
and have windows lighting the upper rooms. The
block consists of six dwellings with as many dor.rvvays
and mullioned windows on the ground floor and is
built of ironstone rubble ; the roof is covered with
stone slates. Over the middle windows is a panel
inscribed ' This Hospitall was Built by Edmund
Sawyer Esqr Afio Dmni, 1688,' and the founder's
arms above with helm, crest and mantling.
The government of the town was administered at
the Abbot of Peterborough's manorial court and we
have references to the bailiff of the manor as the
principal oflicial of the manor and town and the
constable acting under him, to carry out the orders of
the steward." The vestry began to assume powers
possibly in the 17th century, but certainly early in the
l8th century, and the organization of a workhouse by
the vestry in 1717 is an early instance of such an
institution.'* In 1862 the officials of the vestry
were the four overseers, two surveyors of highways,
a Nuisance Removal Committee, twelve in number,
and a Sanitary Committee." A Local Board was
formed in 1873 which in 1894 became the Urban
District Council, now consisting of twenty-five
members. The district is divided into five wards.
Proposals were made in 1893 and again in 1901 to
apply for a charter of incorporation, but they were
negatived. There was an Inclosure Av\'ard in 1804.
The Public Library and Museum were given by Mr.
Andrew Carnegie in 1904 and the Alfred East Art
Gallery adjoining it was built in 1913 as a memorial
to Sir Alfred East, R.A., a native of the town. The
Gallery contains a representative collection of Sir
.Alfred's paintings.
By a charter of 956 King Edwy
MANORS granted 10 cassati of land at KETTER-
ING to his thegn Aelfsige the gold-
smith.^" The boundaries of the land are set out and
seem to have included the site of the present town.
They run from Cransley Bridge along the brook to
Humbridge, thence to the gallows tree on Debden,
from there to Kinston Head to Flie Long Dike, then
to Weekley Ford along the Ise until it came to Pytchley
Ford, and from the ford along the brook until it came
back to Cransley Bridge. Possibly Aelfsige gave
Kettering to the monastery of Medeshamstede or
Peterborough as, by a charter dated 972, King Edgar
confirmed it to that monastery.-' Although this
charter is spurious, it is probably correct as to its
facts, for in 975 it is said thatLeofsi son of Bixi, ' an
enemy of God,' dispossessed Peterborough Abbey of
Kettering for two years, but by the influence of
Actlielvvold, Bishop of Winchester, possession was
regained. The manor is assigned to the abbey in
the Domesday Survey (1086) and by several confirma-
" DiiJgci, Uiit. NortbaHts. ii, 241. refer to the Sessions House, which cvisted " Ibid. 55-8 ; Webb, F.ngl. Local Govit.
'• Hull op. cit. 4^. twenty ycart earlier. I3in, ijm. " Bull.op. cit. 70.
''» A stone bearing the dale 1640, " Bull, op. cit. 160, 161 j //hoc /Jrri. " Birch, Caria/. S<jAr. iii, no. 943; Lansd.
built into the old Loal Board room in Hoc. Reps, xxiii, iHo; xxviii, no. MS. lozg, fol. 79 ; Bull, op. cit. 3.
the comer of the Market Place, cannot " Bull, op. cit. 141 el seq. " Birch, op. cit. iii, no. 1281.
219
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
tion charters. King Stephen gave the abbot a grant
of free warren in Kettering^'* and the abbey held the
manor attached to the office of Sacrist, in demesne,
until its dissolution in 1540.^^
In 1544 the manor and advovvson of the rectory of
Kettering were granted to William Lord Parr in tail
male.2' Lord Parr died two years later without male
issue and Kettering reverted to the Crown. In 1560
a grant was made to William Garrard and others,-'"
which they surrendered two years later.
The manor of Kettering from which the site of
the manor {q.v.) had been separated was granted in
1624 to Sir Henry Hobart and others for 99 years, in
trust for Charles Princeof Wales, afterwards Charles I.^*
In 1628 the trustees assigned their interest to William
Williams, Robert Mitchell and others, citizens of
London, reserving a rent of £66 7/. lo\d.-^ In the
same year Charles I mortgaged the reversion in fee
of the manor and much other property, to Edward
Ditchfield and others^' representing the City of
London, for a large sum of money. Sir Henry Hobart
and the other trustees had apparently conveyed the
remainder of their lease of the manor subject to the
rent of ^66 7/. loW. to Sir Edward Watson, who was
holding it in 1628, while Peter Cawston held the
market tolls, etc.^ The interest of William Williams
and the other trustees was sold in 1630 to William
Child and Thomas Gardiner, and in the same year
Edward Ditchfield and the others sold the reversion
in fee to John Child and Daniel Britten subject to
the fee farm rent of ^^66 "js. \Q\dp It appears that
Sir Lewis Watson, assignee of the lease of the manor,
John Sawyer, Everard Sturges and certain others.
Watson, E.irl of Rocl-
ingh.im. Ardent a cbeve-
Ton azure bctwfen three
martlets saitle with three
crescents or on the cheve-
Ton.
Sawvkr. Lozeii^y or and
azure a piile gu}rs ivith
three scallops or thereon.
copyholders of tlic manor, hearing that the King was
selling the manor, desired to purchase it. They
quarrelled, however, over the terms on which the
purchase should be made, and Sir Lewis Watson
lirought an action against Sawyer and the others for
non-performance of the agreement. In the mean-
while Sawyer and nine others obtained the residue of
the term of 99 years from William Child and Thomas
Gardiner and John Child and Daniel Britten sold
the reversion in fee of the manor to Robert Breton of
Teton, Valentine Goodman of Blaston and eight
others.'" Thus the manor became divided into ten
shares. In 1634 ^^^ shareholders sold to Sir Edward
Watso.a and Edward Watson, at the nomination of
Sir Lewis Watson, all the fairs and markets, the
common bakehouse, erc.^'
The shareholders of the manor in 1641 were Edward
Watson, created Lord Rockingham in 1645, who held
six shares, and Edmund Sawyer, William Good,
William Billing and John Drury,'^ who owned the
remaining four shares. The Sawyers acquired a
second tenth and their two tenths were obtained
by John Duke of Montagu in 1724. He also acquired
two other shares in 1726 and 1729 from Mrs. Falkner
and Mrs. Bass, thus bringing his holding up to
four tenths. '^ The Duke's daughter, Mary Duchess
of Montagu, had an only daughter Elizabeth, who
married Henry Duke of Buccleuch, and these four
shares came to the present Duke of Buccleuch. The
other six tenths remained in the Watson family
Earls and Marquesses of Rockingham and Lords
Sondes, and were held by Mr. George Lewis Watson
at the time of his death on 31 Dec. 1899.** They
then passed to the Rev. Wentworth Watson and on
his death without issue on 5 July 1925, Sir Michael
Culme Seymour, a minor, grandson of Mary G. Culme
Seymour, sister of George Lewis Watson, succeeded
to the property which was vested in the hands of
trustees, called the Manor trustees.
The fee farm rent of ^^66 yj. lo^d. was granted in
1635 to James Duke of Lenox,^ who settled it on
George and Bernard Stuart. They in 1652 assigned
their interest to Thomas Gorstelow and John Knight
on behalf of Sir Jeffrey Palmer, Bt., attorney general.
Sir Jeffrey settled it on his son Lewis and Jane his
wife in 1654, and he on his son Sir Geoffrey Palmer.
Sir Geoffrey in 1728 sold it to trustees for John Duke
of Montagu, from whom it passed with his shares
of the manor to the Duke of Buccleuch until extin-
guished in 1891.^"
In 1582 the market tolls and rights, the profits
of the common bakehouse and the annual returns
called eleven ' dussens ' or tithings, were leased for
21 years to Edward Depupper. In 1 592 a furtlier
term of 21 years was granted to Peter Cawston/"
who was still holding in 1628. The fairs and markets
and bakehouse were in 1634 sold by Robert Breton,
Valentine Goodman and others, trustees for John
Sawyer, Francis Sawyer and others, to Sir Edward
Watson and Edward Watson, at the nomination of
Sir Lewis Watson.-"* In 1661 Sir Edward Watson,
then Lord Rockingham, received a grant of three
yearly fairs at Kettering on Tuesday before the feast
of the Passover, Tuesday before tiie feast of Michael-
mas, and Tuesd.iy before the feast of St. Thomas.**
The market rights were, on 16 March, 1881, sold by
George Lewis Watson to the old Local Board, and
the market is now controlled and owned by the
Lhban District Council.
" Reg. Rob. Swaflham, fol. xlii.
" falor Ecil. (Kcc. Com.), iv, 279.
■' I., and P. lien. Illl, vol. xix, (i)
r. '41 (75)-
"' Pat. R. zEllz. pt. 13,
" Ibid. 22jai. I,pt. 16.
" Bull,op.cit.,23.
" P»t. R. 4 Cha.. I, pi. 35; ^ Cliai. I,
pi. ig.
" Ibid. 4Chai. I, pt. 35.
" Bull, op. cit. cii. Cloic R. 6 Chai. I,
pt. 17, no. 21.
'" Cloic R. 7 CliaJ. I, pt. i^, no. 5;
Exchcj. Ililli ft Acci. Nortlumpt. Mich.
7 Ch.T». I, no. 97.
" Hull, op. cit. 27, cii. rio«p R. 9
Chai. I, pt. iH, no. 6.
220
" Hull, op. cit. cit. Exchcq. Decreet &
Orders, i0-2i Chai. II, fol. 46A.
" Dull, op. cit. 31. ''Ibid.
" I'ai. K. II Ch,i«. I,pt. I J.
-'' Rllll, op. cii. 2iJ, 30.
'' I'at. R. 34 Eli/., pi. II, m. 17 j Hull,
op. cii. p. 14.
*" Cloic U. 9 Chai. I, pt. 18, no. 6.
" r.il. R. 13 Chat. II, pt. 17, no. 24.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
KETTERING
The pasture and lands called Haselfield and the
site and demesne lands of the manor were in 15S6
granted to Sir Christopher Hatton and his heirs
at a rent of ^27 6j. SJ.*" After his death in 1 591
his licir, Sir William Hatton, or Newport, son of
John Newport and Dorothy his wife, sister of Sir
Chrisiophcr, sold tlic H,illfii.-ld, otherwise known
as Haselfield, and the site of the manor in 1596 to
Edmund Sawyer,'" and for confirmation of title
Sawyer obtained a Crown grant in 1602.''- Edmund
Sawyer died seised of the manor house where he lived'*
in 1630, which in 161 2 he and his wife Ann had
settled on their son John and Sarah his wife, daughter
of Francis Harvey.'" John was killed in a skirmish
at VV'eliingborouf^h in 1646, and was succeeded by
his son Edmund. He had a dispute as to the repair
of the church, whereby it was eventually agreed in
1665 that he and his family should occupy their
accustomed seats, and so long as other parishioners
who wanted room were permitted by Edmund Sawyer
to sit in the aisle or chancel anciently belonging to
his (Sawyer's) house, the churchwardens should repair
the same, except only the pavement of the lower
chancel, which should be maintained and repaired
by Edmund Sawyer, because it was the burial place
of his family. Edmund Sawyer died in 1680, and was
succeeded by his son Henry. The hospital or alms-
houses were founded under the will of his younger son
Edmund, who died abroad in 1687.^*
Henry Sawyer settled the site of the manor on his
wife Mary, daughter of William Gomeldon, of
London, in 1688,'" and had by her a son Edmund.
He apparently lost his money in the South Sea Bubble,
and he and his son Edmund sold the site of the manor
and all his property in Kettering in 1720 to Francis
Havves, who was connected with the South Sea Com-
pany, and Susan his wife. In the following year the
estates of the directors of this company, being seized
for the benefit of the sufferers, Hawes' property in
Kettering was sold to John Lord Montagu by a
series of conveyances completed in 1729.'" From this
date the site of the manor has followed the descent
of the Montagu property, and is now held by the Duke
of Buccleuch.
The fee farm rent of ^^27 6s. 8J. reserved by the
grant to Sir Christopher Hatton, and later by that to
Edmund Sawyer, was leased to Henry and Francis
Tate in 1594. for 21 years.** In 1616 this rent was
granted to Nathaniel Rich and Robert Hatton, who
were possibly acting for Sawyer in order to extin-
guish it.*'
The RECTOR!' MANOR was probably in exist-
ence in the 13th century, and was held by the suc-
cessive incumbents. Its lands lay to the north of the
Market Place. In 1562 Anthony Burton, LL.B.,
the rector, with the consent of the Bishop, leased
the manor to Edward Watson, junior, for 60 years,
at a rent of £20. In 1565 a further term of five score
years was added at the rent of £^6, and in 1569
a still further term of 80 years at the rent of j^40.
The manor was held under these leases by the Watsons,
Earls of Rockingham, until 1802. Since this date
it has been held by the rectors for the time being.'*
The Church of ST. PETER AND
CHURCH ST. PAUL consists of a chancers ft. 6 in.
by 16 ft. 9 in., with north and south
chapels, clearstoried nave of six bays 73 ft. by
21 ft. 6 in., norlli and south aisles 18 ft. 6 in. wide,
north porch, and west tower 16 ft. square, surmounted
by a lofty spire. All these measurements are internal.
The width across nave and aisles is 63 ft. 8 in., and
across chancel and chapels 61 ft. 5 in.
The church stands on a gradually rising slope
from the west and, wit!i the exception of the tower,
south chapel and the west bay of the south aisle,
is faced with rublile. The roofs arc of flat pitch and
leaded, behind plain parapets ; internally the walls
arc plastered.
In the outer wall of ^}^e south aisle is a fragment
of a pre-Conquest cross shaft, possibly of the 8th or
9th century, and a Norman corbel also remains in one
of the window jambs ; but of any church which
existed before the 14th century there are no further
remains, owing to the extensive rebuilding which took
place in the Lite mediaeval period.
The eastern part of the chancel projecting beyond
the chapels dates from about 1300, and the north door-
way of the nave is of the same period ; but the rest
of the fabric belongs to the middle or third quarter
of the isth century, at which time the church was
rebuilt and assumed its present aspect. The tower
was probably first erected, being built to the west
of the then existing nave (after the demolition of its
western bav), and the new nave afterwards joined to
it."
Considerable changes were made in the interior
during the early part of the 19th century, and in
1890-91 the church underwent a very extensive
restoration, the galleries and old box seats being
removed, new roofs erected over the aisles, the nave
roof repaired,'^ and the stonework of many of the
windows renewed ; a large detached vestry connected
by a lobby with the south chapel was also added.'^
The chancel has good double angle buttresses,
and a scroll string at sill level. The east vi'indow is
of three trefoiled lights, with three uncusped circles
in the head and moulded jambs and muUions, and in
the north wall is a window of two trefoiled lights
with two pointed trefoils in the head ; both windows
are c. 1300, but have been restored. A contemporary
moulded doorway below the north window was re-
moved in 1890 to the east end of the north chapel,
but has recently been blocked. The roof of the old
chancel was lowered in the 15th century, and the
present parapet, with good angle gargoyles, added.
The roof is of five bays, and has carved tracery
between the ties and principals. The sedilia, piscina,
and the chancel arch are all modern. On the north.
"> Pat. R. 23 Elii. pt. 2, no. 2.
" Bull, op. cil. p. 15.
*: Pat. R. 45 Elit. pt. I.
*• Bull, op. cit. p. 15.
" Chan. Inc|. p m. 7 Chaj. I, no.
43
" Bull, op. cit. (Supplement), 55-6.
•• Recov. R. Mich. 4 Jai. II, ro. 87;
Feet o( F. Notthanti. Mich. 4 Jat. II.
" Bull, op. cit. p. 58 ; Feet of F.
Northanl). East. 2 Geo. II.
" Pat. R. 37 Elii. pt. 18, m. 19.
'• Ibid. 14 Jas. I, pt. 22.
"> Bull.op. cit. 86-91.
" The axis of the tower inclines con-
lidcrably to the north-west.
" Billings (1843) sayi that the nave and
aisle roofs appeared to have been recon-
221
ftructed. On one of the tie beams of
the nave was a plate with the date
1688, and a beam in the south aisle
was dated 1678. The south aisle roof had
been rcleadcd in the latter year and the
nave roof in 1789: y^rri. Ilium, of
KrtlrringCb. 13.
'* The restoration was carried out under
the direction of Sir Arthur Blumfield.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
side the chancel opens to the chapel by a 15th-century
arcade of two arches, and on the south by a similar
arcade of tliree arches, all of two moulded orders on
piers composed of four attached slufts with separate
capitals and bases. The north chapel is about 28 ft.
long internally by 18 ft. 6 in. wide, and has a five-
light east window and two three-light windows in the
north wall with three-centred heads, cinquefoiled
lights and transoms ; all are restorations. In the south-
I5th-century work of three bays, the principals of
which are increased in depth and connected with the
wall-pieces by braces, with solid spandrels carved in
low relief.
Both chapels are separated from the aisles by
moulded arches, and the chancel arcades are filled
with modern screens. There is also a modern screen
between the north chapel and the aisle.
The nave arcades follow the design of those of the
^^^^^^^^M^^?3&2^^E-^
BloCKeo cJOorv/ay
F^^--^^?--^^^^^^^^^%
B 14- Ei Century early
OI5Ii! Century C.I4- 50
^1512 Century C.I470-80 ^'LsL^
EZj Modern
10
20 30 «0 50
Scale of Feet
Plan of KerrERiNC Church
E S T R
I E S
-■ j.«j^»-X" .■■'.-:' '
I
east corner is a cinquefoiled piscina, and in the east
wall, north of the altar, a niche for a statue. The roof
is of two bays, with good carved tie-beams.
The south chapel, sometime known as ' Mr.
Sawyer's aisle,'"* is about 38 ft. long by 21 ft. in
width, and is faced with ashlar. It is divided into
three bays, and has a five-light cast window, and three
four-centred windows of three liglits on the south,
with Perpendicular tracery, but no transoms. The
rood-screen crossed the whole church, and the stair-
way to the loft, with lower and upper doorways,
is in the south-west corner of the chapel, but no part
of the screen remains. In the north-west corner,
higli in the wall, is the doorway to the chancel Kift,
and below it a consecration cross within a roundel.
TiiC roof of the chapel is a very beautiful piece of
chancel, with clustered columns of four attached
shafts and well-moulded arches. The windows of the
aisles are all of three cinquefoiled lights, with four-
centred heads and embattled transoms, but the west
window of the north aisle is higher and narrower
than the corresponding window on the south side.^
At the east end of both aisles there were altars against
the screens, the aumbries in connection with which
remain, and in the north aisle a niche for a statue.
Tlic early 14th-century north doorway has a moulded
arch and jamb shafts, with moulded capitals, but the
bases are hidden ; the door bears the date 1682.
The porch is set at an oblique angle, a position
accounted for by the ancient entrance to the church-
yard, with which it is in line." It is of two stories,
with low-pitched gable, access to the chamber being
" From 16th-century Kettering wilU
it appciri there were chaprli of St. John
the Hjptiit, probably that on the luuth
■ide ; a Lady chapri with a tabernacle or
niche for the figure of the Virgin, which ii
probably repreicnted by the remaini of
the niche in the nortli chapel ; and the
chapel of St. Kalherine which may have
been at the eait end of the nnrtii or south
aisle. There were aWo gilds of St. John the
Haptist.Our Lady, and the Holy Sepulchrr
(Hull, op fit. Supplement, 21, 22.)
222
" Over the west end of the south aisle
is a panel with the names of the church-
wardens and the date 1746, probably the
year in which the west hay was refaced
in ashlar.
'■" hillings, op. cit. 1 1.
w
h
u
3
O
c/2
o
HUXLOE HUNDRED
kettp:ring
by a stair-turrtt at the north-west corner of the aisle.
The pointed outer doorway is set within a square
frame, the spandrels of which are filled with quatrc-
foils in circles, and above are three canopied niches,
the outer ones formerly occupied by statues of St.
Peter and St. P.iul, whose emblems appear on shields
below. The porch has a square-headed two-light
window on each side, but no wall benches ; the
chamber is lighted by a similar window facing west.
The clearstory windows are of three cinqucfoilcd
lights with four-centred heads and moulded jambs.
The magnificent tower and spire arc equal in height,"
and are amongst the best examples of work of their
kind in the kingdom. The wliole tower was carefully
i-iiilii;:;:;..
Kettering : Church Porch
designed with relation to the spire whicii it was to
bear and the slope of the buttresses was contrived
with this end in view. The tower is of four stages,
with a slight set-back at each stage, and finishes with
battlemented parapets and octagonal angle turrets.
There is a vice in the south-west angle. Above the
moulded plinth is a band of quatrcfoils in circles,
which is continued round the enclosing rectangular
frame of the west doorway. The doorway is richly
moulded and flanked by small panelled buttresses,
terminating in lofty pinnacles, and has a crocketcd
hood with large finials ; the spandrels are filled with
Perpendicular tracery. The tower buttresses are
well set back from the angles, and there is a band
of quatrefoils marking each stage. The great west
window is of five lights, with transom and Perpen-
dicular tracery, and the stage above is filled on each
face with five transoraed panels, the middle one of
which is pierced. On each side of the bell-chamber
stage are three admirably proportioned windows
of two trefoiled lights with transoms, and the battle-
ments have cross loopholes. The spire was repaired
in 1887, when 31 ft. were taken down and rebuilt'*;
the angles are crocketcd, and there are three sets
of lights on the cardinal faces, the two lower with
mullions and tracery. The tower arch is of four
chamfered orders, the innermost springing from half-
round responds.
The font and pulpit are modern.
There are some traces of mural paintings ; on the
north clearstory wall, near tlie chancel arch, is the
figure of an angel with gaze apparently directed
to the rood above the loft, and in the spandrel of the
arch below is a fragment of a post-Reformation text.'''
On the inncrwall of the nortii aisle are the remains of
a figure of St. Roeli on a blue ground powdered with
gilt stars.*"
A fragment of 15th-century glass, with kneeling
figure bearing an inscription to the Blessed Virgin,
remains in a window of the south chapel, and another
inscription in the same window '. . . pro statu magistri
Tho. Bloxham,' may have reference to this figure."
In the south chapel is a small brass plate to Edmund
Sawyer (d. 1630) and his wife Ann Goodman, of
Blaston, with kneeling figures ; the chapel also con-
tains a 17th-century bookstand and desk for two
chained books, tlie chains of which remain.*^ In the
vestry is an old iron-bound chest with three locks.
There is a ring of ten bells. The two trebles are
by Gillett and Johnson, of Croydon, 1921, the third
and fourth by Richard Sanders, of Bromsgrove,
1714, the fifth by John Taylor and Co. of Lough-
borough, 1890, the sixth a recasting by Taylor,
in 1905, of a bell by Thomas Eayre of Kettering,
dated 1714, the seventh dated 1630, the eighth by
Thomas Eayre, 1732, the ninth by the same founder,
1722, and the tenor by VV. and J. Taylor, 1832.*^
The plate consists of a cup c. 1663, inscribed
' The gift of Elizabeth Crosey to Kettering Church,'
with the maker's mark re four times repeated;
a plate of 1716 inscribed 'The gift of Mrs. Fowler
in the parish of Kettering who dyed the 27th of
Aprill 1715 ' ; a flagon of 1756, by William Sliaw and
William Priest ; a silver-gilt chalice of 1908, given in
1915 ; a silver-gilt chalice by Frank Knight of
Wellingborough, given in 1926 ; a silver-gilt ciborium
of 1914, and another by Frank Knight, 1926. There
are also two plated dishes 1871, and a pewter flagon.
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i)
baptisms 1637-1680, marriages and burials 1637-1681 ;
(ii) baptisms 1681-1710, marriages 1697-1709, burials
1683-1710; (iii) baptisms and burials 1710-1812,
marriages 1710-1754; (iv) marriages 1754-1781;
(v) marriages 1781-1812. In the third volume is a
terrier of 1727.
The advowson belonged to the
ADVOW^ON abbot and convent of Peterborough
down to the dissolution of that
house. It was granted with the manor to Lord
" Billingt gives the height from the
floor of the nave to the baie of the spire
ai 88 ft. q) in. and of the tpire (without
the vane) 88 ft. 8 in.
•* Bull, WiK. 0/ Kettering, p. 72 it. The
last II ft. were entirely new work. The
height of the «pirc was slightly increased,
the total height of tower and spire, ex-
clusive of finial and vane, being now
178 ft. loj in.
•• It runs "... Cod which givcth
his abundance to all things living. That
they doe good, that they be rich in good
works."
•^ It was discovered about 1840. The
figure is represented in a scarlet coat, an
angel holding his right hand, a dog against
his left leg, with wallet and escallop shell,
and in his left hand a pilgrim's staff.
The figure was at one time attributed to
St. Jamei the Greater.
*' In Undges' time there were 'broken
portraits of saints and bishops in most of
the windows of the aisles ' ; op. cit. ii, 243.
223
^^ The cover of one book also remains.
In an inventory of 1745 are named the
Book of Homilies, Jewel's Apology, and
Foxe's Acts and Monuments.
*^' North, Ch. Belli of Northanis. 315,
where the inscriptions on the older bells
are given. During the restoration of
1890-91 the bell-chamber floor was raised
several feet. The 17th century wooden
pillars which formerly supported the
tinging and organ gallery now form part
of a staircase in the ringing chambrr.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Parr in 1 544 and reverted to the Crown on his
death in 1546. It was granted in 1550 and again
in 1552 to William Parr, Marquis of Northamp-
ton,** nephew of Lord Parr, but was forfeited on
his attainder in 1554. In 1558 it was granted
to Thomas Reve and Christopher Bullyt, who sold it
in the same year to Henry Goldeney.** It had passed
to Edward Watson in 1561, and has remained in the
hands of the family of Watson, Lords Rockingham
and Sondes,** then of George Lewis Watson, and
has followed the descent of the Watson shares of the
manor (q.v.).
There are the modern churches of St. Andrew in
Rockingham Road built in 1 870; St. Mary the Virgin,
in Fuller Street (1895); All Saints, in William Street
(1899) ; and Mission Churches of St. Luke, Alexandra
Street (1876); St. Philip's, in Brook Street (1893) ;
and St. Michael's, Garfield Street, built in 1894.
The Roman Catholic Church of St. Edward, in the
Grove, was built in 1893, and there are many Non-
conformist chapels, including those known as Toller
Chapel, first built for the Independents in 1723 and
called after Thomas Northcote Toller, and Fuller
Chapel for Baptists, named after Rev. Andrew Fuller,
pastor there 1783 to 1815, both in Gold Street.
The Church and Town Allotment.
CHARITIES In the Parish Book it is stated that
^50 was given by James Cater and
j^io by Alderman Pack, which sums were laid out in
the purchase of 5 doles of meadow ground lying in
Killingholme and Walcots, the rents to be applied to
put forth poor children to trades. The old brass
tablet of Charities states that John Pettifer gave the
rent of Emmerton's Holme (or Lads' Holme), which
consisted of about 3V acres, for putting out of poor
people's children. By the award of the Inclosure
Commissioners dated 23 Nov. 1 805 two allotments in
the Middle Field, containing respectively 8 a. i r. 30 p.
and 8 a. 16 p., were awarded to the Rector, Church-
wardens and Overseers in lieu of lands appropriated
for apprenticing, for the church and for the poor. The
lind, which is let in allotments, produces a net rent of
about ;^43 yearly. The charity is administered by the
rector and churchwardens and four trustees ap-
pointed by the Urban District Council in place of the
overseers. l2/43rds of the income are applied by the
churchwardens towards church expenses. 26/43rds,
together with the dividends amounting to £() <)s.
yearly on £378 is. lod. Consols (representing accumu-
lations of income), are applied in the maintenance of
Exhibitions in conformity witli a scheme of the Charity
Commissioners dated 17 Jan. 1896, and 5/43rds are
distributed to the poor by the trustees of Hunt's
Charity.
Poor's Allotment. An allotment of 9 a. I r. 17 p.
was set out on the inclosure for tiic poor in lieu of their
rights of cutting fuel on certain lands. The land is
let in allotments and produces about /^20 10/. yearly,
and the Ofiicial Trustees of Charitable Funds hold
a sum of j[H^7 15/. loJ. Consols producing ^£21 ■}!. Sd.
yearly in dividends. This sum of stock represents
the investment of mine rents under lease to the
Kettering Coal and Iron Co. The income is applied
by the rector and two trustees appointed by the
Urban District Council in the distribution of coal
and in donations to the Kettering and District Nurs-
ing Association.
By his will, proved 23 Feb. 1617-18, William Cave
gave £20 to the poor. A rentcharge of £1 2s. on 3
doles of meadow land was purchased with this
sum.
By his will dated in 1733 Thomas Dawson, inn-
keeper at 'The George' in Kettering, gave £50 to the
poor, and Mrs. Ann Dawson, his widow, added ;^io.
A rentcharge of £^ was purchased with these sums
aided by a donation from tlie parish. These two
charges are paid out of land belonging to Mr. James B.
Sutton.
Christopher Eady in 1680 gave ^^4 yearly to the
poor out of the White Hart Inn and one yard of
land. This charge was redeemed in 1891 by the
transfer of ^^160 2J per cent. Annuities to the Official
Trustees.
These charities are distributed in doles to the poor
in January by trustees appointed by the Urban Dis-
trict Council in place of churchwardens and over-
seers.
The endowment for this parish of the charity of
Edward Hunt — -particulars of which are given in the
Charities of the parish of Warkton — consists of
/I384 6s. T,d. Derby Corporation 6 per cent. Redeem-
able Stock and ;^388 2s. ^d. Middlesbrough Corpora-
tion 6 per cent. Stock, producing £46 6s. lod. yearly
in dividends. The charity is administered by the
minister and 6 trustees appointed by the Urban
District Council, and the income is distributed to the
poor.
The .Mmshouse Charity of Edmund Sawyer and
others is regulated by a scheme of the Charity Com-
missioners dated 28 Oct. 1910, and comprises :—
(i) Sawyer's Hospital, founded by will proved in
the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 23 June 1688,
consisting of 6 almshouses and a rentcharge of £6
paid by the owner of the Boughton Estate.
(2) Elizabeth Baker's Charity for Bread. Deed poll
15 Sept. 1790 and declaration of trust 30 April 1816,
originally ;^I50 South Sea Annuities, and—
(3) Martha Baker's Charity. Will proved at North-
ampton 23 July 1782, originally ;^20o South Sea An-
nuities. The endowments of these two charities are
now represented by £277 13^. 8(/. 5 per cent. War
Stock producing j^l3 \js. id. yearly.
(4) James Gibbon's Charity. Will proved in Preroga-
tive Court 18 May 1888; endowment ,^500 Queensland
Government 4 per cent. Stock, producing ^^20 yearly.
The Duke of Buccleuch, as owner of Boughton House
in V\'eekley, is the patron of the charity, which is
administered by a body of trustees consisting of the
rector and seven others. The income is divided
equally among the six almswonien who to qualify
must have resided in Kettering for not less than ten
years. One almswoman, called Baker's Almswoman,
must be a member of the Church of England. The
Stock is with the Official Trustees.
Anne Aldwinklc by codicil to her will, proved in
the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 2 Nov. 1 793,
•' Pat. R. 4 Edw. VI, pt. 7 ; 5 Edw.
VI, pt. 5.
•• Ibid. 4 & ; Ph. & Mjry, pt. 3.
" Chan. Inq. p.m., bdlc. 37^, no.
93 ; Feet of F. NorthanH, Mich. 18
Jai. I ; Eait. 1652 ; llil. i6i;3 ; Trin.
29 Chai. II ; Rccov. R. jlil. l6i;3,
ro. 65; Trin. 19 Ch.ii. II, ro. 165;
224
Hil. 9 Geo. II, ro. 189; Ea»t. 14 Geo.
II, ro. 3ii 26 Geo. II, ro. Si $8 Geo. Ill:
ro. 260.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
KETTERING
gave to the vicar and churchwardens a sum of stock
producing ^^30 yearly, to be applied as to j^I2 to the
inmates of Sawyer's Hospital, ^^2 10/. for a person to
read and pray with the inmates, £\ \os. for the pur-
chase of books, j^5 to the poor, and the remainder to
the poor at Christmas. A sum of /600 Navy 5 per
cent, was appropriated to answer this bequest. Tlie
capital money was never transferred to the minister
and churchwardens, and a draft scheme was prepared
in 1894 but was never carried through. No payment
has been made in respect of this cliarity for the last
20 years.
Sir John Knightlcy, Bart., by a codicil to his will
proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury
18 .\pril 1 81 2 gave ^([200 in support of the Sunday
Schools. The endowment consists of ;^l8o 4J. 2d.
Consols with the Official Trustees of Charitable
Funds and the interest amounting to ^4 10/. yearly
is applied by the rector, churchwardens and over-
seers for the benefit of the Sunday School.
Thomas Dash, by his will proved 28 Sept. 1841,
gave ^£50 to the rector and churchwardens in sup-
port of the Sunday Schools. The legacy with accu-
mulations was invested in ^91 5/. lod. Consols
svith the Official Trustees, producing £i 5/. id. in
dividends.
Mrs. McGrouther's Charity. Many years ago a
Mrs. Mary Hogg established by subscription a charity
for the relief of aged poor widows, which became known
as ' The Kettering Poor Widows' Fund,' and Mrs.
Sophia Susan McGrouther, by deed dated 29 May
1872, gave ;^3oo Bank Annuities, the interest to be
applied for the benefit of poor widows or single women
of good character not under 50 years of age. The
annuities became z\ per cent. Consolidated Stock,
and this was converted into (^lo"] \6s. 31/. 5 per cent.
War Stock standing in the names of the Rev. C. B.
Lucas and C. E. Lamb. The charity is administered
by Mrs. Alice Lamb, of Warkton. Monthly payments
are made to about 25 poor widows.
James Gibbon, by his will proved 18 May 1888,
gave £500 Queensland Govt. 4 per cent. Stock upon
similar trusts to Mrs. McGrouther's Charity. The
stock is standing in the same names, and the dividends
amounting to yr20 yearly are distributed in cash to
about 16 poor widows.
The Great Meeting House known as Toller Chapel
is comprised in an indenture of II March 1723,
and the following charities are in connection there-
with : —
(1) By his will, proved at Northampton 15 July 1732,
Samuel Langley gave an annual sum of ^^i out of his
lands for the benefit of the minister. This charge is
paid out of land in Nether Field now the property
of the Kettering Industrial Co-operative Society,
Ltd.
(2) Matthew Wilson, by will proved in the Prero-
gative Court of Canterbury 3 Feb. 1827, gave £500
for the benefit of the minister. This sum is placed on
mortgage.
The following charities are administered by the
deacons of the chapel and the income amounting to
£l\ is. lid. yearly is applied in cash and other dis-
bursements to about 20 poor persons and in the
purchase of books for use at the chapel.
(l) Joseph Wright, by his will proved in Preroga-
tive Court of Canterbury 2 Jan. 1746, gave ^^30.
(2) John Wakelin, by will proved at Northampton
12 Jan. 1793, gave £i,o.
(3) John Meadows, by his will proved at Northamp-
ton on 27 Nov. 1799, gave /50.
(4) Ephraim Busweli, by will proved in Prerogative
Court of Canterbury 7 Aug. 1801, gave /50.
(5) George Satchell, who died 22 April 1835, by
his will gave j^20, the interest to be distributed in
meat at Christmas.
(6) Joseph Nunneley, by will proved at Northamp-
ton 16 .August 1769, gave ;tioo, on trust that £1 los.
should be paid to the minister yearly, zos. distributed
in meat to the poor, and 30J. in cash to the poor.
(7) Miss Mary Mce, by will proved at Northamp-
ton 24 July 1826, gave £19 19/., the interest to be
applied in distribution of books.
(8) Joseph Wright, by will proved 2 July 1834,
gave £^0 for the general purposes of the Meeting.
(9) Thomas Dash beforementioned, by will gave
;{^loo, the interest to be applied in the distribution of
meat.
The endowments of these charities were originally
placed on mortgage, but those of Joseph Wright 1746,
Wakelin, Meadows, Busweli, Satchell and Nunneley
now form part of a sum of ^^41 2 Js. 6d. 5 per cent.
War Stock in private names and a sum £y os. ()d, part
of the dividends on this sum of stock, is applied in
satisfaction of these legacies.
The endowments of the charities of Mee, Wright
(1834) and Dash are represented by £177 5j. id.
Consols with theOfficialTrustees of Charitable Funds,
producing £^ Ss. \d. yearly.
The charity of Nathaniel Collis was founded by
declaration of trust dated 11 April 1849. The en-
dowment, which originally consisted of shops, is now
represented by ^^300 Consols in the names of George
Barratt and two others. The dividends amounting
to £7 los. yearly are applied by the trustees of the
Great Meeting in the distribution of cash to about
40 poor and the purchase of hymn books for use in the
chapel.
Jane Curchin, by will proved 9 March 1900, be-
queathed the sura of ^^200, to be called Mrs. Curchin's
Bequest to the trustees of the Toller Chapel, the
interest to be distributed in money, coal, flannel or
calico. The personalty was insufficient to pay the
bequest in full, and ^156 15/. was all that was received.
This was invested in 5 per cent. War Stock and forms
part of the above-mentioned sum of ^^41 2 "js. 6d. In
respect of this bequest a sum of £6 5/. 6d. is dis-
tributed in money payments to about 36 poor and in
garments.
The following charities are in connection with the
Fuller Baptist Chapel comprised in an indenture dated
25 Feb. 1816:—
The Fuller Allotment. By the Inclosure Award of
23 Nov. 1805, a piece of land in Middle Field, Ketter-
ing, was granted for the support of public worship in
the Fuller Chapel. The land was sold and the pro-
ceeds invested in ;^2lo is. Sd. 5 per cent. War Stock
with the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds, pro-
ducing/lo 10;. 2(/. yearly, which is applied to expenses
of the chapel.
By his will, proved in the Prerogative Court of
Canterbury 6 Feb. 1734-5, ]°^ Davenport devised
land and hereditaments to trustees for the benefit of
the minister of the Protestant Dissenters called the
225
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Baptists or Anabaptists in Kettering. The property
consisted of about 5 acres of land with a house and
stable. This was sold some years since and the pro-
ceeds invested in £523 16/. id. 5 per cent. War Stock
with the Official Trustees, producing ^26 3/. lOt^.
yearly. The trustees of the Fuller Baptist Chapel
were appointed trustees by scheme of the Charity
Commissioners dated 15 March 1918. The income
is applied to the general expenses of Fuller Chapel.
Mrs. Beeby Wallis, by will proved in Prerogative
Court of Canterbury 6 May I Si 3, gave /400 to the
minister and deacons of the Particular Baptist Con-
gregation upon trust to apply the interest yearly as
to £2 los. to the minister for preaching occasionally
in neighbouring villages, £2 I0.r. in Bibles and hymn
books for poor of congregation, £^ to poor of congre-
gation, ;^4 10^. in repair of Meeting House and residue
for minister. The money was invested in Consols,
which were sold in 1897, and the proceeds, £^SS '■'•1
after being placed on mortgage were subsequently
invested in £480 lys. ~d. 5 per cent. War Stock, with
the Official Trustees, producing ^24 oj. 10(/. yearlv. In
1924 £16 los. was placed to the general fund of
Fuller Chapel, £2 IQS. to the Hymn Book and Bible
Fund, and ^^5 was distributed to the poor.
Thomas Gotch, by his will proved in the Preroga-
tive Court of Canterbury 12 March 1806, gave ;£loo
to the minister and deacons of the Baptist Meeting
upon trust to distribute the interest among the poor
of the congregation. The money was placed on mort-
gage, but was subsequently invested in £170 los. 8J.
Consols standing in the names of William Timpson
and three others. The dividends, ^^4 5;. yearly, are
distributed to tlie poor.
Mary Marlowe, by her will proved in the Prerogative
Court of Canterbury 13 March 1779, gave to trustees
;{^I50, part of ^^,900 3 per cent. Bank Annuities,
towards tiic support of the minister of the Particular
Baptists at Kettering, and £co 3 per cent. Bank An-
nuities to the poor members of the congregation. At
her death there was not suflicient property for the
trustees to execute her will, and the money was put
into Chancery. In 1787 the share for this charity
was fixed at ^^l 8.r. The capital is invested in Consols
and the trustees now pay 17s. 4d. for the minister and
5/. \od. for the poor.
Elizabeth Seward, by her will dated 2 June 1753,
gave to trustees j^400 South Sea Annuities upon trust
to pay the interest to the ministers of the four con-
grcgationsof Particular Baptistsof Bolton of the Water,
Alcester, Leicester and Kettering. The capital is in
Consols, and the sum now received for Kettering is
£'i IS. lod. yearly.
Mrs. Agnes Percival, by her will proved 24 March
1917, gave /I400 to the trustees of the London Road
Congregational Church upon trust to apply the
interest in religious work in connection with the
chapel. The money was invested in ^^411 18/. lod.
5 per cent. War Stock with the Ollicial Trustees of
Charitable Funds producing ^^20 i2j. yearly in
dividends.
William Wilson, by his will proved at Oxford,
June, 1928, gave /^loo in augmentation of Agnes
Percival's charit)'. £q6 l8s. 5 per cent. War Stock
was purchased by the Oificial Trustees of Charitable
Funds and produces ^^4 i6s. lod. per annum.
Mrs. C. Arnsbv, by her will proved at Peterborough
12 March 1912, bequeathed the residue of her estate
to the trustees of the Strict Baptist Church Jehovah
Shalom, Wadcroft, for the benefit of the church.
The endowment consists of ;^4lo loi. Gd. 3J per cent.
War Stock and ^^81 3;. T,d. 5 per cent. War Stock in
names of D. E. Rootham and two others, and pro-
duces £\i 8/. 4J. yearly in dividends. The income
is placed to the church incidental fund.
The Wicksteed Village Trust is comprised in an
indenture dated 29 Jan. 1916. 181 acres of land,
known as Barton Seagrave Suburb Estate, used as a
public park, and 41 acres called the Pebbleford
Building Estate, were granted to trustees for the
amelioration of the conditions of the working classes
in and near the town of Kettering and elsewhere in
the LInited Kingdom, by the provision of improved
dwellings with gardens, etc. In 1924 ^^8,119 i6s. jd.
was received from sale of turf, loam, gravel, refresh-
ments, farm sales, etc.
Tiie following legacies were left for the endow-
ment fund of the Kettering and District General
Hospital : —
Miss Laura Rebecca Morris. Will proved 27 Aug.
1908; gavCj^iooasan addition to the endowment fund.
This sum has, with other monies, been invested in
/]65o Dominion of Canada 3J per cent. Stock in the
names of F. Mobbs and three others.
The Rev. Cecil Henry Maunsell. Will proved
23 Dec. 191 1, gave /l,ooo. The legacy, less duty,
was invested with other monies in £550 Glasgow
Corporation 3 per cent. Stock and ;^6o7 L. & N.W.R.
3 per cent. Deb. Stock.
Mrs. Mary Ann Brown. Will proved 12 April 191 1,
gave ;^20. This was invested in Glasgow Corporation
3 per cent. Stock, and forms part of the above-
mentioned sum of ;^55o.*'
Sir Edward Nicolls, by his will proved in the Pre-
rogative Court of Canterbury, 17 |uly 1717, gave land
situate at Haslebeech, Sulby, Hardwick, Old, Wil-
barston, and Walgrave, amounting altogether to about
593 acres, to trustees upon trust to pay out of the
income thereof ^^30 yearly to each of the incumbents
of the following parislies — namely, Northampton All
Saints, Kettering, Rothwell, Oundlc, Hardwick,
Mouhon, Cjuilsborough and Spralton, and he directed
that the residue of the income siiould be applied to
charitable uses at the discretion of the trustees. The
land has been sold and the proceeds invested in
/i,6o8 11/. jd. Consols and £15,900 ijs. ^d. 4 per
cent. Funding Stock with the Official Trustees of
Charitable Funds, producing £(>j6 \s. Sd. yearly in
dividends. Each of tiic respective incumbents re-
ceives a cheque yearly for£30, and the residue is applied
in special grants varying from j^20 to j^30 to other
incumbents and in donations to hospitals.
•' There .Trc Bcvcr.Tl other legacies mentioned in the yearly
report of the Ilotpital, but information concerning them has
not been obtained.
226
HUXLOE HUNDRED
LILFORD-WITII-WIGSTHORPE
Lyllofordc (xiv cent.) ; W'ykenclliorp (xiii cent.) ,
Wykyiigesthorpe (xiv cent.).
This parish, though inchidod in the Hundred of
Hu.\loe, is locally situated in the Hundred of I'i)lebrook.
It lies on the east bank of tiie Nene, which is spanned
by a handsome stone bridge with fluted pilasters,
erected within a short distance of Lilford Hall in
1796.
The hamlet of Wigsthorpe forms the eastern portion
of the parish, the road from Thrapston to Oundlc
running between it and I.ilford. 'I'hc few houses
which constitute the village are clustered round the
railway crossing in Wigstliorpe. In Bridges' time
I.ilford possessed a village of 12 houses and a church
dedicated to St. Peter, and the hamlet of Wigsthorpe
also held 12 houses. A fine soft spring of water to
the south of Lilford Park marks what was once the
centre of Lilford village.
The greater part of the Lilford portion of tlic parish
is occupied by Lilford Park. Lilford Hall lies near
its western limit, and possesses an extremely charming
view, across the Nene, of Pilton with its old church
and manor house. The Hall is a fine example of
late Jacobean work built in 1635, this date appearing
on two great chimney stacks in the court at the back
of the house. The estate then belonged to the family
of Elmes, and it must have been William Elmes, who
succeeded in 1632 and died in 1641, who was the
builder. The three principal fronts are treated in the
traditional Jacobean manner, with niullioned windows
and gables, some of wliich are straight in outline and
some curved, the whole being disposed symmetrically;
but the entrance front has no projecting wings, its
line being only broken by a large semicircular bay
window of two stories at each end, and a porch of one
story in the middle. Wings project at the back and
form a kind of court. This general disposition is
indicative of the end of the Jacobean period. The
architectural treatment is quite simple, but none the
less satisfactory on that account. An unusual
feature is the grouping of many chimney flues in a
long straight row with separate shafts all joined
together at the top. The house stands well up above
the adjacent river Nene and has charming prospects.
Sir Thomas Powys, who purchased the property in
1 71 1, decorated the interior in the fashion of the
time. The upstairs drawing room retains its original
character, and the main staircase dates from this
period ; but the entrance hall and corridor appear
to have undergone alterations. There is one room,
the library, where the oak panelling and a handsome
oak chimneypiece of the early house still remain ;
otherwise the interior work is of the 1 8th century and
later. Relatively small but judicious additions have
been made by the present Lord Lilford. The stables
at the rear form part of the architectural grouping.
They are of the 1 8th century, simply but carefully
planned and they add to the interest of the general
arrangement. The gardens have been admirably
laid out in modern times, and in conjunction with
much fine old timber, form an attractive setting to
the house. In aviaries attached to the house is a
collection of rare birds.
The area of the parish is 1827 acres of land and
13 acres of water. The ground near the Nene is
liable to floods, and nowhere rises to much more than
200 ft. Tiie soil is clay ; the sub-soil clay and rock.
To the west of the Thrapston road it is good : to the
east of it, cold and inferior. The chief crops grown
are wlicat, barley and beans. The population in
1921 was 164.*
The vicarage is annexed to the rectory of Achurch,
where the rector, the incumbent of the combined
churches, resides.
The Public Elementary School (mixed) was built
about 1845 by Lady Lilford, and enlarged in 1866 by
Lord Lilford to hold 90 children. The children
attend from the adjoining parishes of Pilton and
Tliorpe Achurch. Barnwell Station, on the London
Midland and Scottish Railway, is just within the parish
boundary.
In the time of King Edward the
MANOR Confessor, 5 hides in LILFORD were the
property of Thurchil, who held them
freely. They had probably been afterwards granted
to Walthcof, Earl of Huntingdon, who married
Judith, the Conqueror's niece. Judith continued to
liold in I086''' after the execution of her husband in
1075. Their eldest daughter and coheir Maud was given
in marriage by William to his Norman follower
Simon de St. Lis or Senliz, who was made Earl of
Northampton and Huntingdon, and after his death
she was married to David, later king of Scotland, who
became Earl of Huntingdon.'
The overlordship followed the descent of the
earldom and honour of Huntingdon {see Fothering-
hay).
The tenants in demesne were the Oliphants
(Olifard, Holyfard) who from being holders of land
in England under the kings of Scotland transferred
their allegiance to Scotland, becoming magnates and
peers there.^ Three branches of the family appar-
ently held lands within the counties of which the
King of Scotland was earl. The earliest member of
the family as yet found is Roger Oliphant who
witnessed a charter of Simon de St. Liz to St. Andrew's
Priory, Northampton, not later than 1108.^ In the
survey of the reign of Henry I (l 100-35) William
Oliphant was holder of 5 hides in Lilford of the king
of Scotland and was living about 1147.' He was
probably succeeded by David Oliphant godson of
King David of Scotland, who assisted at King David's
escape after the rout at Winchester in 1141.' It was
he probably who was attesting charters to 1 167.*
His successor was possibly William whose name
appears in these counties about this time.' Walter
Oliphant was given as a hostage by William of Scotland
in 1174'" and a William and his sister Agatha were
' The poll books show there was one
freeholder in the paiish in 1705, Richard
Bailey, and that in 1831 the vicar, the
Hon. Fredk. Powys, clerk, the one free-
holder, resided at Achurch.
* V.C.II. A'erihanii, i, 354J.
■ Farrcr, Honours and Kntgbts' Fees^ ii,
296.
♦ V.C.H. NoTlbants. i, 291.
' Round, Feuil. Engl. 223-4.
227
" V.C.II. Norlhanis, i, 365*; ste ah
ibid. 291.
' Farrcr, op. cit. 354.
' Ibid. ' Ibid.
'» Ibid. 355.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Oliphant. Guhs three
crescents argent.
connected with Northamptonshire in 1 201.^1 It was
another Walter, probably, whose land in Lilford was
in 1216 committed to Ralf de Trubleville.'''* This
Walter was a man of considerable importance in
Scotland, holding the office of justice of Lothian and
being constantly in attendance on the king." He
presented to the church of Lilford in 1228" and
he^^ and William'^ Oliphant were dealing with lands
in Lilford and Wigsthorpe in 1 232. In 1 242-3 the heir
of Walter Oliphant (as though Walter were dead) is
said to hold one fee in Lilford
of the Earl of Albemarle of
the Honour of Huntingdon."
This heir was apparently David
Oliphant, one of the magnates
of Scotland, who in 1244 was
returned as holding one fee in
Northamptonshire of William
de Forz, Earl of Albemarle,
and Christine his wife.'* It
would seem that this David
was dead without issue before
1266 when Walter de Moray
(Moravia), apparently one of his heirs, presented to
the church of Lilford.'* Divorgilla his widow,
described as Lady of Lilford, held the manor of
Lilford for life by gift of Walter de Moray, who
reserved the advowson of the church.*" Divorgilla
Oliphant gave to Divorgilla daughter of Sir Walter
Montfichet (Montefi.xo) all the lands in Armiston
which she held by gift of Roger Wallenger, with re-
mainders to Divorgilla Montfichet's brothers Laurence
and John.2' In 1287 William Montfichet, Lord of
Kirgill (Kirkhill) in Scotland, and heir of the Lady
Divorgilla Oliphant, Lady of Lilford, granted the
lands he had received from her to Laurence son
of Sir Walter de Montfichet, his kinsman, with rever-
sion to John son of the said Laurence.^^ Jn 1296
Divorgilla claimed the advowson of the cliurch of
Lilford against William son of Walter de Moray, and
the King presented because the lands of Scottish
magnates iiad been taken into his hands.*' However,
in 1299, the presentation was quashed as having been
made in error, the patronage belonging to William de
Moray.** In 1300 the manor and advowson of
Lilford were conveyed by William de Moray to
Anthony Bek, the famous Bishop of Durham,*^ and
he bequeathed them at his death in 1 3 10 to his great
nephew Sir Robert de Willoughby, first Lord
Willoughby of Eresby, and Margaret his wife, daughter
of Edmund Lord Deyncourt,*' Sir Robert being son
of Alice wife of Sir William de Willoughby and
daughter of John Bek of Eresby, brother of the bishop.*'
Sir Robert de Willoughby obtained confirmation of
his title** and in 1316 was returned as holding Lilford
Willoughby. Or a fret
azure.
and its members.*' He died in the same year seised,
jointly with his wife Margaret, of the manor and
advo\vson held of John de Britanny as of the Honour
of Huntingdon by the service of one knight's fee, his
heir being his son John aged 15 years.^ John de
Willoughby confirmed a grant of the manor for life
to William de Willoughby and in 1330 was called
upon to justify his claim to soc and sac, tol and theam,
infangenthef and outfangenthcf, free warren, view
of frank-pledge, freedom from
pontage, tolls, sheriff's aids,
etc., in Lilford.^' John de
Willoughby was returned as
holding half a knight's fee in
Lilford in 1346.** He was
present at the battle of Crecy
in that year and died in 1 349.^
He was succeeded by his son
Sir John de Willoughby, tliird
Lord Willoughby, who settled
the manor of Lilford and its
member Hockington in 1361.^
He took part in the battle of Poitiers and died
in 1372, having settled the manor on his son
Robert, fourth Lord Willoughby, and Robert's second
wife Margaret, daughter of William Lord Zouche
of Haringworth.^ He re-settled the manor and
advowson in 1376** and in J384 he and his wife
Margaret granted the advowson to Sir John Holt and
others.^' He died seised of the manor in 1396 and
was succeeded by his son William, fifth Lord Willough-
j,y_38 William died in 1409 leaving a son Robert,
sixth Lord Willoughby.^ The manor of Lilford
had, however, been settled for life on Joan widow of
William, who after his death married Henry, Lord
Scrope of Masham, and later Sir Henry Brounflete.
She died in 1434,** when Robert sixth Lord
Willoughby succeeded. He was engaged in the wars
in France, being present at Agincourt, and died in
1452. His heir was his daugliter Joan, the wife of
Richard de Welles,'" seventh Lord Welles, who was
summoned to Parliament in her right as Lord
Willoughby, retaining this title apparently after her
death in 1460. The paternal estates of her husband,
forfeited by the attainder of his father Lyon or Leo,
Lord Welles, slain at the battle of Towton, where he
fought on the Lancastrian side, were restored to him
in 1464-5, and in 1468 he obtained full restitution
in blood and honours. But in 1469 he, his son-in-law
Sir Thomas Dymock, and his son and heir, Sir Robert
de Welles, were all beheaded near Stamford, in
consequence of the latter's participation in the
Lincolnshire rebellion.** The heir of Sir Robert de
Welles (whose execution followed that of his father)
was his sister Joan, who, being then the childless
" Curia Reg. R. ii, 73.
" Farrer, !oc. cit.
'* Bain, Cat. Doc. Seoll. 144, 139.
" Bridgci, Hill. Northanli. ii, 242.
" Feet uf F. Northanti. caie 171, file
15, no. 285.
'• Ibid. no. 284.
" Bk. of Fees, 938. " Farrer, loc. cit.
" Bridgei, loc. cit.
" Farrer, loc. cit.
" Buccleuch Deedi, F. 1, 2, 4, 5.
" Ibid.
••Bain, Cal. Doc. Scoll. ii, 725; Cal.
I'ai 1292-1301, p. 184.
" Ibid. 444; Bain, op. cit. 1104.
" Feet of F. Northanti. 28 Edw. I,
c«ie 175, file 58, no. 3S6.
" Cal.I'al. 1307-13, p. 375.
" G.E.C. Ciimflfie I'etrage, viii, 141.
"Chart. R. 4 I'dw. II, m. 1, no. 10;
Cal. Chan. 1300-26, p. iSi; Cal. Pat.
'3°7"'3i P- 375 ) cf. I'lac. /Ibbrev. (Rec.
Com.), 31 1.
■• Feud. /liJi, iv, 28.
•" Chan. Inq. p.m. 10 Edw. II, no. 78 ;
Cal. Ing. Ed. II, vi, no. 60.
•' Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.),
575-6-
228
'• Feud. /liJs, iv, 449.
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 241.
•' Marl. Ch.irt. 58, A. 48.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 46 Edw. Ill (iit
noi.),78.
•• Harl.Chart. 58,0.9, 20.
" Feet of F. Northanti. 7 Ric. II, caie
178, flic 87, no. 60.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 20 Ric. II, no. 54.
•' Ibid. II lien. IV, no. 29.
«" Ibid. 12 Hen. VI, no. 43.
*' G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
" Ibid ; Rolls of Pari, vi, 14511, 287a.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
widow of Richard Piggott of London, married as her
second husband Richard Hastings, brother to VV'iUiam,
Lord Hastings, Chamberlain of the Household to
Edward IV.''* A faithful Yorkist, he obtained a grant
in 1470 of the lands his wife would tiave inherited
but for the attainder of her father and brother.
Lilford and its member, as conveyed to himself and
his wife Joan by grant of Thomas Fitzwilliam, senior,
and Thomas Fitzwilliam, junior,** were expressly
excepted from the act of attainder and forfeiture
against Richard Lord Welles, his son Lord Robert,
and his sons-in-law Thomas de la Laund and Sir
Thomas Dymock and others, and from the petitioa
for its repeal presented in 1485** by the heirs of
Lord Welles. In 1473 Lilford was conveyed by
Sir Richard Hastings, kt., and Joan his wife, daughter
and heir of Sir Richard Welles, kt., sometime Lord
de Welles and Willoughby, to William Brown of
Stamford, John Brown of Stamford, Sir William
Stoke, kt., Thomas Stoke, clerk, John Elmes of
Henley-on-Thames, and William Est.*' In 1475
an exemplification was obtained at the request of
William Brown of Stamford, merchant, of the article
in the act of attainder exempting Lilford from its
operation, as being at the date of the passing of the
act in tlie hands of the Fitzwilliams, by whom it
had been conveyed as above to Sir Richard Hastings
and his wife, who afterwards sold it to the said
William.*'
William Brown settled the manors of Lilford and
Papley on himself and his wife Margaret, with
remainder to John Elmes and his wife Elizabeth,
daughter of William and Margaret, for the life of
Elizabeth, to William Elmes, the son and heir of
John Elmes and Elizabeth, to John brother of the
said William, and to the heirs of Elizabeth, and the
heirs of each successively. Both William and
Margaret died in 1489.** From this date the manor
of Lilford follows the descent of Warmington and
Papley (q.v.) to the death of Arthur Elmes in 1663.
Jane, widow of Arthur Elmes, seems to have married
Sir Francis Compton, kt. and had a life interest in
the manor which she and her husband conveyed to
Sir John Langham, kt. and bart. in 1666.*' Arthur
Elmes evidently died without issue and was succeeded
by his cousin Thomas Elmes, the youngest son of
Anthony Elmes of Greens Norton. He was knighted
as Thomas Elmes of Lilford in 1688'' and died in
1690. He was succeeded by his brother William
Elmes, who made various settlements of the manor of
Lilford cum Wigsthorpe and the advowson,'* He
died in 1699, ' the last male branch of that ancient and
honourable family of the Elmes. '^^ John Adams
and other trustees under the abovementioned settle-
ments conveyed the manors of Lilford and Wigs-
thorpe, the rectory and advowson, to Sir Thomas
Powys in 171 1, who took a fine of them in 1713."
Sir Thomas Powys, the second son of Thomas
LILFORD-WITH-
WIGSTHORPE
Powys of Henley (co. Salop) and of Anne daughter
of Sir Adam Littleton, was the judge who conducted
the trial of the Seven Bishops in 1688. He died in 1 719,
and was buried at Lilford.^ Thomas, his eldest son by
his first wife Sarah, daughter of Ambrose Holbech
* *
«'
**
0
4
0
* ♦
*
■♦■ 4
V£_
0
MJ
Elmes. Ermine two ban
iMe chargtd with elm
leaves.
Powys, Lord Lilford.
Or a lion's leg razed
set bendwise between itvo
crussleis Jitchy gules.
(co. Warwick), who succeeded him, married Catherine,
daughter and heir of Thomas Ravenscroft of Broadlane
(co. Flint), and died in 1720. His son and heir, also
named Thomas, married Henrietta daughter of
Thomas Spence, Serjeant of the House of Commons.^
He was succeeded by his son Thomas, who was M. P.
for the county from 1774-97. A man of great
parliamentary talents and distinguished integrity,
lie was one of the batch of peers created during the
ministry of William Pitt in 1797, being created
Baron Lilford on 26 October. He married Mary,
the daughter of Galfridus Mann, and died in 1800.
His son Thomas succeeded him at Lilford, as second
baron. Thomas Atherton Powys, third baron,
inherited Lilford at his father's death in 1825."
The Lilford estates, increased by a succession of
inheritances, to which the eventual inheritance from
Sir Littleton Powys, elder brother of its purchaser
Sir Thomas, must be added, were, after the death of
Thomas Powys, third Baron Lilford, at Lilford Park
in 1861, dealt with by the Lilford Estate Act, passed
on 29 July 1864,^' as the result of a Chancery suit
instituted by his son Thomas Littleton Powys, the
fourth baron, for the purpose of amending the will
of his father, dated 24 February, 1 84 1. From the
operation of this Act, Lilford, with its chief messuage,
park and pleasure grounds, was expressly excluded.
It was as an ornithologist that the fourth baron, one
of the founders of the Ornithologists' Union, left his
mark on Lilford,^* the valuable collections he made
being housed there. He travelled much, and wrote
on his subject. After being twice married he died in
1896, and was succeeded by his son John, the present
and fifth baron.
The Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem near Clerken-
well had a preceptory at Dingley as early as the reign
of King Stephen, with lands valued in 1535 at
/[108 13/. 5}ii." In 1330 the prior of the Hospital of
St. John of Jerusalem claimed view of frankpledge
*«G.E.C. op. cit. viii,78.
" Rolls of Pari. v\, 145a.
" Ibid. 287a.
" Feet of F. Div. Co.. Hil. 12 Ed. IV,
file 76, no. 90. Wm. Brown had m.irricd
the daughter and heir of John Stoke of
Warmington, by which marriage Warming-
ton became hii.
*' Cal. Pat. 1467-77, p. 508. Joan died
• P 'i°i-S-
** Cal. Inq. Hen. VII, i, nos. 476, 478,
525.533-
" Feet of F. Northanti. Mich. 18
Chai. 11; Recov. R. Mich. iS Chaj. II,
ro. 2q.
'° Bridge), op. cit. ii, 243, cit. M.I. ;
Harl. MS. 1553, fol. 41 ; Shaw, Knights of
Engl, ii, 264.
" Recov. R. Mich. 3 Wm. & M. ro.
7, 286 ; Trin. 5 Wm. & Miry, ro. 7.
" M. I.
" Feet of F. Northanti. Hil. 1 1 Anne.
'« Di t. \al. Biog.
" G. '■.<". Complete Peerage, v, 80.
" G.I..C. loc.cit.
'" Priv. Stat. 27-8 Vict. c. 10.
»" Lord Lilford, F.Z.S. Memoir by hii
Bislcr, Mr«. Drewitt.
" Dugdalc, Mon. Angl. vi, 801.
229
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
in Glapthorn from his tenants in Fotheringhay,
Lilford, etc. f and on 1 8 August 154.2 a messuage in
the tenure of WiUiam W'hyte of Lilford, which had
belonged to the preceptory at Dingley, was granted
to Robert Tyrwhitt, the king's Serjeant, with meadow
lands, rent, etc.'''
The church of ST. PETER was taken
CHURCH down in 1778, and no part of it remains
on the site."- Three arches from the
nave arcade were, however, set up in The Lynch,
below Achurch, close to the river, and the monument
to Sir Thomas Povvys was removed to Achurch church.
According to Bridges,^ the church of Lilford consisted
.>iLFORD Church Ruin
of chancel, nave, north and south aisles, and west
tower and spire, but part of the south aisle appears
to have been taken down before his time.®* There
were four bells in the tower. The registers began in
1560, the first volume containing all entries to 1778,
together with a long list of briefs (1712-54), and
accounts of perambulations of the parish in 1718,
1722 and 1726. A vicarage house was built in 1714.
The communion plate is now at Achurch.
The presentation to the church
ADFOIVSON was made in 1 228 by Walter Oliphant,
and the early liistory of the advowson
is to be found with that of the manor (q.v.), with which
it was held until, in 1383-4, Robert de Willoughby of
Eresby and his wife Margaret made a conveyance
of land in Lilford and of the advowson to Sir John
Holt, kt., and others, from whom they were acquired
in 1387 by John de Buckingham, Bishop of Lincoln.*'
The bishop bestowed them as ' bought and acquired
with the goods bestowed on him by God,' on the
dean and chapter of Lincoln, for the endowment of
a chantrey called Buckingham's or Burghersh (Burg-
hervvahas) Chantrey in the cathedral, of two chaplains
and two clerks, to pray for the good estate of Pope
Urban \'I, the King (Richard II), Queen, bishop,
etc., and the souls of Edward III, Queen Philippa,
the bishop's parents, etc.'"" In 1398 a vicarage was
ordained by the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield"
and in 1535 Thomas Palfreman was receiving iod. for
the church of Lilford as chantrist of Bishop John
Buckingham.^ On 26 September 1552, among much
monastic property then granted to Thomas Cecill
and Philip Bold, the rectory, church, and advowson
of the vicarage of Lilford, late belonging to this
chantry, were included.''' Before 1558 they had been
acquired by Edmund Elmes, who was then holding
them with the manor (q.v.) with wliich since then
they have again been held.
Lilford was one of the parishes wliich received an
augmentation of its living under the Commonwealth.""
About 1755 Thomas Powys, father of the first
Lord Lilford (see above), pulled down such of his
tenants' houses as were in Lilford, and built others in
their place in Wigsthorpe; he then petitioned the
Bishop of Peterborough (alleging as his reason that
it was now necessary for the vicar to reside at Wigs-
thorpe in consequence of the removal thither of the
inhabitants) for leave to obtain a conveyance to
himself of the old vicarage house in Lilford, and to
erect instead, before I January 1757, a substantial
house of stone for a new vicarage upon a certain piece
of land in Wigsthorpe. The bishop gave his consent
in an instrument dated 27 March 1756," but when
Thomas Powys died on 2 April 1767, the old vicarage
house and lands had not been conveyed to him. By
indenture of 21 August 1767 the ground on which the
old vicarage formerly stood was conveyed by the
vicar and churchwardens of Lilford to his son, the
fourth Thomas Powys of Lilford.'- He completed
the work his father had begun, by obtaining in 1778
an Act of Parliament" authorising the consolidation
of the rectory of Achurch and vicarage of Lilford
(he was lord of both manors and owner of the advow-
son in each parisii), and the removal out of Lilford
parish of both church and vicarage into Acliurch.
Lilford church was to be pulled down and the materials
used for the repair of that of Achurch, the vicarage
newly erected in Wigsthorpe to be exchanged for a
house and 2 acres of land near the rectory lands in
Achurch, and an acre added by him for a graveyard
there ; this was accordingly done. In this Act it
was stated that the parish church of Lilford was
"> Plac. de Quo ll'arr. (Rcc. Com.),
" Pat. R. 34 Men. VIII, pt. 6, m, 30;
/.. and I'. Urn. /'///, xvii, g. 714 (1 5).
" An cngr:iving of ' Lilford, ncir
Oundlc, taken from Ay Church ' dated
1757, ihowt the church Handing 3 ihort
distance to the louth-eait of Lilford Hall.
The tower wai of three itagei, lurmounted
by a ipirc. In 1310 an indulgence wai
granted to thoic viiiting the altar of
the Blcned Virgin Mary in the pariih
church of Lilford and giving to the fabric
of the church or maintenance of the
chaplain lerving that altar (Line. Epii.
Reg. Memo Dalderby, 161.)
•• Ilist. Northonis. ii, 242.
•* Among the monumenti were a
frecjtone figure of a prieit on a tomb in
the chancel, a bran tablet--to Arllnir
Devenshyre (1573) and Oicth hii wife
(1574) — a itone with a bran inscription
torn off, and otheri to members of the
Elmci and Powyi familiei j Bridge),
op. cit. 243-3^ The dimeniioni of the
bmlding are given ai follow! ; church
and chancel 102 ft. 2 in. long, body and
aislei 48 ft. broad, tower 12 ft. by
9 ft. 10 in.
•' Chan. Ini|. p.m. S Ric. II, no. 42.
•« Cal. Pal. 13S.S-9.PP- 3'2, SyS-
" Line. Epi«. Reg. Memo. Buckingham,
iii,4S2.
"' I'alor Kill. (Rcc. Com), iv, 9.
•" Pal. R. 6Ed. Vl.pt. 9.
'» Cal. S.I'. Don,. i'>58-5(), p. 274.
" Close R. 7 Geo. Ill, pt. 23, no. 17.
" Ibid.
'• I'M. Stal. 18 Geo. III.c. 9.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
LOWICK
falling into decay, and would be an expense to repair,'''
and it was enacted tliat as niucli of the building as
Thomas Powys might require should be left as a
private chapel to his mansion house, in which tlie
rector of Lilford cum Achurch was to perform divine
service, and the rest sold or otherwise applied to
repairing Achurch church : the inhabitants of W'igs-
tliorpe and Lilford to be in future rated for repairs
with tiiose of Achurch.
Before the passing of the Act the profits of the
vicarage of Lilford, exclusive of the vicarage house
and a small homestead thereto belonging, consisted in
some small tithes and a right of common belonging to
the vicarage house, for which the lord of the manor
paid in ' nature of a composition ' ^^65 yearly. Under
tile Act of 1778 it was agreed that 65 acres
called \\ igsthorpc Little Wold, and 46 acres, tlic
east part of a piece of ground called W igstliorpe
Great Wold contiguous, siiould be vested in the
rector of Achurch in lieu of all tithes. An exchange
was also effected of the vicarage and land in Wigs-
thorpe already referred to for a house and lands in
Achurch.'*
A chapel was at one time in existence at W igsthorpe,
the presentation in 1347 being made to ' tlie church
of Lilford with tlie chapel of Wygesthorp.' In
Bridges' time no trace of this cliapel remained."'
Ricliard Ragsdale by his will
CHARITIES dated 30 Jan. 171 1 charged his land
and hereditaments in Bythorne and
Thorpe Achurch with 20s. yearly for tiic poor of
Lilford. 20s. is received yearly in respect of this
charge and distributed by the cliurchwardcns to the
poor on St. Thomas's Day.
V\'illiam Lassells by will dated 9 Sept. 1770 gave
/^loo, owing to him on a mortgage of the tolls of the
turnpike road between Market Harborough and Bramp-
ton to be applied in 'putting apprentice' poor children
of VVigsthorpe. Tlie principal sum has increased to
/164 9;. Cjd.
LOWICK
Lolwyc, Lufwyc (xi, xii cent.) ; Lufwik (xiii cent.) ;
Lufwyk, Luffewyk (xiv cent.) ; Luffwyke (xvi cent.).
The area of the parish is 2,028 acres. The soil is
clay, limestone and ironstone, and produces wheat,
barley and turnips. Harper's Brook flows in a south-
easterly direction through the village and parish,
eventually falling into tlie Nene, and the land rises
from 50 ft. to 100 ft. on each side. From the high
land here are striking views down the valley of the
Nene. In a field to the south of the village is ' the
Lowick oak,' one of the largest in the country and a
survival of Rockingham Forest. Bridges states that
about half a mile south-east of the church in the open
fields are Huxlow Furlong and Huxlow Cross where
the statutes have been kept within the memory of
persons now living.' This probably indicates the
place v\here the hundred court was held.
The village lies along the road from Tlirapston to
Brigstock. Leland about 154S described it as ' the
pratiest place in these quarters'- and it still retains
its beautiful surroundings. The church stands at
the north end of the village; south of it are the White
Horse Inn and a stone 14th-century barn belonging to
a once important grange where Jones of Nayland
(1726-1800), the well-known divine, was born. The
barn has a thatched roof and good end gables. It is
of five bays measuring internally 60 ft. by 21 ft., and
has four original loops on the east side and one in the
south gable; two in the west wall are blocked. There
is a wide modern opening on the west side. Near the
corner of the road to .^Idwinkle is a house bearing the
date 1731. The rectory house, standing to the
south-west of the church, a substantial stone build-
ing in Elizabethan style, was erected in 1855-6.
To the east of the rectory is the Manor Farm, which
lies south of St. Peter's Church and, like it, east of
the main road. The school, formerly called from the
costume ordained for it by its founders tlie Green
Coat School, lies further south still.
In the south of the paris-li is the house known as
Lowick Lodge, with an old quarry to the west of it,
and another to the east. In the north of the parish
is Glebe Farm.
About a mile south-west of the village is Drayton
House standing in gardens of remarkable beauty
and surrounded by a park of about 200 acres. The
house consists of a main block, substantially of
I4tli-century date, with its longer axis from north-east
to south-west, which is covered on the north side by
a range of buildings added in the 15th century. Its
main entrance is from a courtyard on the south side,
inclosed by buildings of different dates, and bounded
on the south by a 14th-century wall, in which is an
arched gateway of much later date in a line with the
principal doorway of the house. On the east side
of the court the buildings, chiefly Elizabethan, are
continued along the end of the main block to a tower
at the north-east corner, beyond which they are
prolonged by a wing projecting northwards. Those
on the west side, of various dates, are carried across
the end of the main block as far as the north-west
tower, which stands above this end of the 15th-century
addition already mentioned.
The main block, containing the hall and present
dining-room, together with a smaller block at the east
end, which projected a bay northward and contained
the vaulted cellar with the solar or great chamber
above, was the dwelling-house of the Draytons and
the Greens, and is probably rather earlier than 1328,
when Simon de Drayton obtained licence to crenellate
'* Before the increase of their ettatei
recorded in the history of the manor, the
Powyi lords of Lilford had not only felt
equal to meeting this expense but had
in the case of '■ Mr. Powys ' (by his
executors) paved the chancel with Ketton
square stones, cornered with black
marble ; and Sir Thomas Powys, kt.,
before his death in 1719, hadin I7i4with
his I.ady Elizabeth bestowed on it 'a
new altar piece, written and painted by
Mrs. Creed, daughter of Sir Gilbert
Pickering, in the seventieth year of her
age, with the communion table, railing,
231
a piece of plate, a pulpit cloth and table
cloth of green tabby': Bridges, Hist.
Nortbants, ii, 246.
'^ Then in the occupation of Joseph
Weed.
" Bridges, Ills!. Norihanis. ii, 241.
' Ibid. 246. • l.cland, /itnerary, i, 8.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
the house.' The building thus followed the usual
plan of the medieval manor-house, with a hall between
the solar block at one end and the kitchen and its
offices on the other. The crenellated wall of 1328
inclosed the court on three sides : a considerable
length of it remains on the south, and there are por-
tions of it in the lower parts of the east wall. The
house thus stood across the middle of a walled
inclosure, with another court upon the north side.
The arrangement of the buttresses in the south
wall of the courtyard indicates that there was originally
a gateway on the site of the present one, and it is
probable that the screens of the hall were entered
at the position of the present doorway.^ Henry
Green, how-ever, who died in 1467-8, appears to have
made an entrance-porch upon the north side of the
hall, which he covered with a range of buildings,
continued westward and returned southward as a
south-west wing nearly as far as the boundary-wall.
The old building was thus inclosed on the north and
west sides by these additions ; and about the same
time a two-floored building was added at the south-
east corner of the house, communicating with the
cellar and great chamber.
In 1584 the north-east wing, which bears the date
upon its west front, was added by the second Lord
Mordaunt of Turvey. At the south-east end of it a
tower was built, and was joined to the 15th-century
projection at the other end of the solar block. The
whole of the east side of the house was thus covered,
and, beyond these buildings, a lower range was con-
structed as far as the boundary wall, forming a south-
east wing and inclosing the east side of the court.
Lord Mordaunt appears also to have heightened the
north-west angle of the house into a tower corre-
sponding to that at the opposite end of the building.
Some important alterations were made by Henry
Mordaunt, second earl of Peterborough, towards the
close of the 17th century. The main entrance to
the house, w'hich, at any rate since 1468, had been on
the north, was shifted from north to south, what had
been the basecourt now becoming the entrance court-
yard. A new gateway was made in the boundary
wall. The gardens were laid out, the small ban-
queting houses at the corners of the east garden were
built, and the work of refurnishing the interior of
the house was begun. These works were continued
and completed on a lavish scale after the marriage
of Lord Peterborough's daughter and heiress, Mary,
Duchess of Norfolk, to Sir John Germain. The whole
south front of the main block, now the principal
front of the house, was refaced and transformed ;
sash-windows were freely inserted in place of the old
mullioned windows in other parts of the building ;
and the fine scries of iron gates and stone gateposts
was made for the approaches to house and gardens.
The interior of the building was greatly altered by the
insertion of new staircases, and the hall and great
chamber received their present form.
During the long tenure of Drayton by Sir John
Germain's widow, Lady Betty (Elizabeth Berkeley),
the entrance courtyard received some additions.
The buildings adjoining the east and west sides of
the gateway, behind the I4th-centur>' wall, are earlier
than her time ; but she fitted up the chapel east of
the gateway, and added the colonnades on the east
and west sides of the court. Towards the close of
the 1 8th century. Lord George Germain (Sackville)
decorated the dining-room on the west side of the
house and the drawing-room in the Elizabethan
north-east wing. Subsequently, in the time of Mr.
W. B. Stopford-Sackville, new kitchen offices were
built west of the dining-room, and various minor
works of restoration and repair were effected by him
and his son, the late Mr. S. G. Stopford-Sackville.
The house stands in a hollow, and the best general
view is obtained from the rising ground at some
distance to the south, by the gate, now standing
isolated at the head of a grass slope, which formed
the main outer approach. From this point, at a
level higher than the roofs, it is possible to distinguish
clearly the component parts of the building and trace
the additions which have inclosed and transformed
the main block : the view is one of remarkable interest
and beauty, and from this point alone the symmetrical
balance of the towers at the further corners of the
main block can be fully appreciated.
The present south front, through which the court-
yard is entered, measures approximately 240 ft. from
east to west. At the west end, on the site of the old
brewhouse, is a modern building, projecting westwards
and southwards, the space between which and the
line of the 14th-century wall of inclosure is filled by
an Elizabethan addition at the end of the south-west
wing. The 14th-century wall, which slopes slightly
south of east, is continued for 65 ft. with three
buttresses to the point where, beyond the third
buttress, it is broken by the gateway. This, 18 ft.
wide, with a round arch between two curved niches,
and with a pediment in which is the shield of Mor-
daunt with an earl's coronet, apparently occupies the
site of an earlier gateway. East of this is a fourth
buttress, and the old wall is continued for another
65 ft., with an intermediate buttress, to the end of
the south-east wing, which is 20 ft. broad. The
face of the lower part of this end, with an inserted
16th-century window, is still part of the old wall,
whicli is slightly gathered in at this point.
The east or garden front of the house is 235 ft.
long from north to south, and consists of four portions.
For some 80 ft. from the south end, tlie Elizabethan
south-east wing, a low building of two stories, incor-
porates, as on the south side, portions of the boundary
wall in its lower part. North of this is a three
storied block, the south part of which is the 15th-
century projection from the great chamber and cellar,
while the north part belongs to the Elizabethan
additions, but was largely refaced in the l8th century.
This is followed by the north-east tower, which rises
a story above the roofs, witii tall angle-turrets, and is
crowned by an elegant leaded cupola on wooden
pillars, added in the 1 8th century. The front is
completed by the north-east wing, 100 ft. from north
to south, with three doors above a vaulted basement.
• The late Mr. G. F. Dodley, who viiiicd
Drayton in 1900, thought that the dctalli
of the cellar pointed to a date ai early ai
1270 J but, compared with other local
work of a limilar kind, they ihow no
ch.iractcriitici which are ncccuarily
earlier th.in c. 1300.
* It icrmB that the north porch, added
in the 15th century, tlien became the
principal entrance; but there arc no
232
signs of an earlier entrance in connection
with it, and the opening from it into the
hall ii an oblii|ue cut, which secmt to
have been made ai part of a new arrange-
ment.
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LowicK : Dr.wion UoisE
Loun K : Dkwion IloUii.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
LOWICK
The lowest floor, on a higher level than those in the
rest of the house, is entered from the garden by a
stone stair parallel with the wall of the tower, and
an excellently proportioned doorway, inserted by
Sir John Germain, whose shield is carved above
it. The style of this wing is tlie local variety of
Elizabethan stonework, without any mixture of
foreign influence : the gables and their kncelers, at
the north end of the block, are ornamented with stone
balls, but otherwise the work is simple and severe.
The garden front has three projecting chimney-
blocks, rising into massive stacks, with moulded tops
and shafted angles. As already mentioned, this com-
posite east front was much altered by the substitution
of sasli-windows in the 1 8th century for the earlier
mullioned windows ; but in recent times some of the
muUioned openings have been restored.
The north-east wing is returned eastwards at its
north end, and there is a similar, but wider projection
on the west side, which gives it a T shape. The north
front, 60 ft. long from east to west, rises from the
ground without any projection, and was somewhat
altered in the 18th century by the insertion of a row
of alcoves at the ground level and of a large Venetian
window, now removed, on the top floor. The north-
west projection is externally 20 ft. east to west and
18 ft. north to south. The west front of the range is
well lighted, as the fireplaces and chimney-blocks
are all on the opposite side ; and mid-way in the wall
between the north-west projection and the return
which covers the junction of the building with the
older part of the house, a rectangular projection with
mullioned windows lights the north end of the
drawing-room and the rooms on the upper floors.
At its south end this wing was returned 20 ft.
westward along the north face of the cellar at the end
of the main block, the first floor being added to the
area of the great chamber. The return, with a small
18th-century addition on the west, projects about
10 ft. from the north front. This, though somewhat
modernised, is mainly of the 15th century. The main
portion, 95 ft. from east to west, forms a range covering
the hall and dining-room in the principal block, and
has an inserted doorway approximately in the middle,
the story above which is crowned by battlements with
a high half-octagon centrepiece, entirely different in
design from the battlements of the rest of the building.
It is clear, as stated already, that this part of the front
originally formed a projecting porch with a room
above, and that the spaces on either side were filled
in later, so that their outer walls were flush with the
north waU of the porch. There are signs of a break in
the masonry east of the porch which point to this.
.. If these additions were originally batllemented, the
battlements were removed and wooden dormer
windows with square pediments substituted, pro-
bably by Lord Peterborough. The mullioned windows
of this part of the front have been very thoroughly
restored. To the west is a modern projecting block
with a front of 20 ft., and to the west again the 15th-
century work, slightly recessed from the rest, con-
tinues for 32 ft. to the angle of the building, this
portion forming the base of the north-west tower,
which, like the other, is finished with battlements and
an added cupola.
The west front retains considerable portions of
iSth-century walling, and the wing added to the house
at that period had a frontage of 118 ft. The modern
kitchen, which projects westward, occupies most of
the north part of this front. At the south-west angle is
a large modern projecting building, which, as pre-
viously stated, is connected with the rest of the
entrance front by an addition of Elizabethan date.
Returning to the gateway in the south front, we
pass beneath its vault into the paved courtyard, which
is an oblong measuring 50 ft. from north to south by
108 ft. between the colonnades from east to west, the
latter measurement being slightly reduced, owing
to the inward, though not exactly parallel slope of
the colonnades, on the north side. The vaulted
gateway-passage measures 25 ft. from north to south,
including the archways at either end. East of the
passage is the chapel, internally 48 ft. from east to
west by 18 ft. from north to south, and on the west
side a line of offices connects the gateway with the
kitchen. These belong to Lord Peterborough's
buildings, but the furniture of the chapel was added
by Lady Betty Germain.' The colonnades which
form covered passages on the east and west sides of
the court were also added by her. They are of rather
poor Tuscan Doric design : the columns, six on each
side with pilasters against the end-walls, are set at
somewhat wide intervals. The entablature is heavy :
in the middle on each side is the shield of Germain
impaling Berkeley. The friezes, instead of being
composed of triglyphs alternating with metopes,
have the awkward arrangement of a single triglyph
above each column.
The buildings on either side of the court, at the
back of the colonnades, contain a number of rooms,
but nothing worthy of special remark : their date and
relation to the plan have been noticed already. On
the north side rises the principal front of the house, the
core of the wall being of the 14th century, but entirely
hidden by the Palladian casing added by Sir John
Germain after 1701. The name of the architect
whom he employed is not known, but the design is
so unlike the ordinary English work of the age that
he may have been a foreigner, probably a Frenchman.
The doorway, approached by a flight of steps, the
sides of which curve inwards as they ascend, is in the
middle of the fafade, and is flanked by Corinthian
columns supporting a pediment. This rather over-
whelming composition, which fiOs the whole height
of the front, is treated with much liveliness and
originality of detail : in the capitals figures of
hawks, in allusion to Sir John Germain's crest,
take the place of the conventional volutes. Above
the doorway is Sir John's shield, charged with
the escutcheon of Mordaunt. On either side the
wall is pierced by three tall windows, which light the
hall on the east and the dining-room on the west.
Each of the windows next the doorway is finished at
the top by curious scrolled ornaments : the rest have
pediments, one on each side round, and the other
triangular. There is no order between the windows,
but the angles are finished with flat pilasters. The
design as a whole is unorthodox and restless ; but
the general effect is sumptuous, and the omission of
pediments from the windows next the doorway gives
relief to the imposing central composition. The
» Some of its hangings, representing chisical temples in the
Pompeian style, tre preserved in various parts of the house.
233
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
building has a low attic, almost hidden by a tall
parapet.
The doonvay gives access to the south end of the
hall, which measures 53 ft. east to west by 32 ft.
north to south. The inner walls were cased at the
same time as the facade, and all medieval features,
including the screens, were removed. The timber
roof, however, remains above the flat plaster ceiling.
The fireplace is in the middle of the north wall.
In 1850 the walls were painted in imitation of marble
by an artist named Roos. Apart from its fine pro-
portions, the room has no striking architectur.il
features, and its general plainness is in strong contrast
to the elaborate decoration of the fa9ade.
On the west side of the hall are two doorways, one
at either end. That on the south opens into the dining-
room, which occupies the site of the original kitchen
and buttery, and measures nearly 40 ft. east to west
by 22 ft. north to south. This room was magni-
ficently decorated by Lord George Germain in 1771
and 1772 : his crest appears above the doorway on the
inner side. The ceiling is ornamented with coloured
plaster reliefs, executed with great delicacy and repre-
senting patterns of fruit and flowers : festoons of
vine-leaves and bunches of grapes decorate the coved
cornice. The walls and window recesses have
white plaster reliefs of classical figures, foliage and
vases on a buff ground ; while long moulded panels
on the walls frame portraits. The general character
of the work, including the ornamentation of the fire-
place, is very like that of the brothers Adam ; but
the plaster-work is in much bolder relief than their
usual designs, and wa' long attributed to Italian
artists. An examination, however, of the household
books of Lord George's steward, Henry Gladwcll,
the results of which were published by the late Mr.
Stopford-SackviUe in 1915,* showed that the plaster-
work was designed by William Rhodes, the carving
by one FoxhaU, and the painting by one Hakewill,
and that workmen from London were employed in the
execution.
North of the dining-room, a passage, on the pro-
bable site of the pantry and part of the old kitchen
offices, leads to the present kitchen and the south-
west wing. About half way down this passage on
the right hand is a wide opening to a hall in the
15th-century block, from which a wooden staircase
of rectangular plan, with elegant newels and balusters,
simple in design, ascends to the first-floor rooms of
this part of the house. This is of early 17th-century
character, contemporary with the chimney-pieces of
the rooms to which it leads. The rooms at the end
of the passage are entered from lobbies in and
adjoining the ground floor of the tower at this end of
the building, in the north-east corner of which is a
vice belonging to the 15th-century work.
At the west end of the north side of the hall, a
doorway, cut obliquely in the wall, opens into the
ground floor of the 15th-century porch, which gives
access to the garden and to two rooms, one on cither
side. These contain no features of interest. The two
bedrooms, however, on the first floor of this block,
approached by the staircase which has been mentioned,
have good chimney-pieces of the beginning of the
17th century, and in the south wall of one of them .1
• Allot. Archil. Soc. Rtpi, &• Papen, xxxii, yi-gi.
blocked window opening has been uncovered, with
a cusped head and hollow chamfer, which was
formerly one of the outer windows of the hall.
The second doorway on the north side of the hall
at the east end, opens to the foot of the grand stair-
case which leads to the great chamber on the first
floor at the east end of the hall. This staircase,
rectangular in plan, was added by Sir John Germain,
and probably took the place of an earlier stair. It has
a wrought-iron baluster, similar to the fine ironwork
of the outer gates and railings, which may have been
designed by Tijou. The walls are painted, in the
sumptuous but rather tasteless fashion of the period,
with representations of Olympus and Hades by
Lanscroon, a Dutch disciple of Verrio.
Opposite the foot of the stair, a doorway leads into
the cellar beneath the great chamber, which is also
entered by two doorways in the east wall of the hall.
This, structurally unaltered since the 14th century,
measures internally 45 ft. north to south by 20 ft.
east to west, and is divided by three octagonal pillars
on the centre of the longer axis into eight bays of
vaulting with chamfered ribs. The work, like much
local work of the period, is plain, and, as has been
noted above, is probably some years earlier than the
fortification of the house by Simon de Drayton in
1328. The capitals and bases of the pillars have
convex mouldings. The pair of bays at the north
end project beyond the north wall of the hall, and
so communicate directly, as already noticed, with the
grand staircase. In the north part of the west wall is
a two-light window of the 15th century, now opening
into an adjoining room. On this side also there is a
doorway into the colonnade on the east side of the
courtyard, which communicates with the rooms in the
south-east wing. There are two doorways in the east
wall, the southern one of which leads into the ground
floor room of the small building added to this corner
of the house in the 15th century.
From the north-east bay of the cellar a stair descends
to the vaulted basement which occupies the whole
length of the Elizabethan north-east wing. This has a
middle row of pillars, dividing it into ribbed compart-
ments, the details of which have been modelled
upon those of the medieval cellar. The bosses are
carved with the arms of Northamptonshire families.
From the south-east bay, in which is the doorway from
the grand staircase, a short flight of steps leads to a
lobby, from which two steps ascend eastward to
the passage which forms the vestibule of the Eliza-
bethan wing. At the farther end of this passage
is the doorway to the east garden, and on the
right hand at this end, in the tower, is the geo-
metrical stair to the upper floors on the east side of„
the house.
The geometrical staircase, a wooden spiral without
supports, was part of the additions made by Sir
John Germain, and gives access to the whole of the
upper part of the east range, including the great
cliamber, which is entered by a doorway directly
opposite the doorway from the head of the grand
staircase. This room, as has been said, occupies tiie
site of the medieval solar, which corresponded in
dimensions to tiie cellar below, but was enlarged
northward by Sir John Germain. It is now called the
King's dining-chamber, a name given to the solar after
the visit of James 1 to Drayton in 1605. It is liglitcd
234
ui -rs ^: 2 ^
^ S u o u
s -s -s o^-s
^ tnsO O oo
z
U
o
HUXLOE HUNDRED
LOWICK
by pairs of long sash windows in the east and west
walls, and is wainscoted with tall oblong panels of
handsome proportions with bolcction mouldings, in
which are hung a series of portraits of the Mordaunt
owners of Drayton. There is a good plaster ceiling,
contemporary with the panelling : the cabinets and
other furniture belong for the most part to the time
of the second Lord Peterborough. A doorway at the
south-east corner communicates with the rooms in the
south-east wing, which contain much tapestry.
From the southernmost of these, in which the Eliza-
bethan panelling remains, a doonvay leads into
the private gallery at the east end of the chapel.
Above the entrance to the great chamber, doorways
from the geometrical stair open into the upper floors
of the north-east wing, which remains to be described.
The lowest floor, entered from the passage which
leads to the geometrical stair, contains three rooms
which open into one another. The south room,
38 ft. north to south by 21 ft. east to west, is the
drawing-room, with a projecting bay in the north-
west corner. It was redecorated by Lord George
Germain in 1 773-4, whose portrait by Romney is
above the handsome marble fireplace. William Rhodes
was employed for the plaster work. The ceiling has a
formal and elaborate pattern ; but the beautiful
relief-work which has been noticed in the dining-
room appears again in the frieze. North of the
drawing-room is a smaller drawing-room, and beyond
this is the state room, fitted up as a bedroom by Lord
Peterborough, whose arras are on the chimney-piece,
attributed with high probability to John Webb.
Side doors at the end of this room open into the
projections which give the wing its T shape. That
on the east side is a powdering closet, with panels of
Chinese work. From the room on the west there is a
stair to the upper floors, at the foot of which is a door-
way to the terrace along the west front of the wing.
These rooms contain much fine furniture and
china, to describe which would require a detailed
inventory. The furniture of the state room, including
a handsome four-post bed and Mortlake tapestry
hangings, is practically left as it was in the time of
Lord Peterborough and his daughter, the duchess of
Norfolk, while the other rooms chiefly reflect the taste
of Lady Betty Germain and her heir. Lord George.
The suite of guest-chambers on the first floor calls
for no special description, their most interesting
feature being the small concealed chamber or hiding-
place between the floor of the powdcring-closet which
leads out of the northernmost room and the ceiling of
the one below. The whole length of the top floor is
occupied by the long gallery or library, which was fitted
with book-shelves by Sir John Germain, who also, as
already said, inserted a Venetian window at the north
end. This was removed by the late owner and a
raullioned window substituted ; at the same time a
new coved plaster ceiling was made in place of the
plain ceiling which had been put in during the 1 8th
century. This is relieved witii shields bearing the arms
of Mordaunt, Germain, Berkeley, and Sackville. Here,
as in the rooms below, a powdering-closet projects
from the wall near the north-east corner. This was
fitted up as a boudoir for the duchess of Norfolk with
inlaid Ciiinese panelling, a mirrored ceiling, and par-
queted floor.
Between the doorways from the geometrical stair to
the first-floor bedrooms and the gallery, there is a door
to the two rooms upon the top floor of the building
upon the south side of the tower, the lower rooms of
which are entered from the great chamber and cellar
respectively. Of these, the nortliern, known as the
Norfolk room, is hung with p.inels of Mortlake
tapestry.
Of the numerous portraits in the house the most
interesting are the Mordaunt portraits in the great
chamber, the series of portraits of the Berkeley family,
to which Lady Betty Germain belonged, in the first-
floor rooms of the Elizabethan wing, and the two por-
traits of Lord George Germain, of which that in the
drawing-room, by Romney, has been mentioned. The
other, by Reynolds, is in the sitting-room on the east
side of the 15th-century porch. A portrait of Lady
Betty, by Kneller, was added some years ago to the
Berkeley series. The large portraits of royal and noble
persons in the hall, and of Louis XIV and William and
Mary in the dining-room, were placed in the house by
Sir John Germain.
The fine lay-out of the gardens and approaches
has been referred to. The iron gates are of great
beauty. The finest of these afford access to the wide
open space in front of the entrance gateway. On each
side of the middle gate, in the head of which is wrought
the shield of Howard impaling Mordaunt, are stone
gateposts crowned with figures of birds in allusion to
the crest of Mordaunt ; while Sir John Germain's
hawks crown the posts of the lateral gates. The date
MDCci is worked as a monogram into the heads of
some of the gates, and occurs elsewhere in the house.
Other gates were placed at the extremity of the east
garden, and at the top of the long incline of park in
front of the house. The iron railings of the stair to the
doorway of the hall, and of the stair from the east
front to the garden, are also of the same period. All
this work was probably designed by Tijou, to whom
the iron gates at Hampton Court are due. The east
garden is ornamented with a great profusion of lead
statues and vases, which form one of the largest col-
lections of the kind remaining ; these, like most
similar work of the day, probably came from the work-
shop of Van Noodt in London.
LOfVICK formed part of the great fief
MANORS of the Bishop of Coutancesin 1086/ and
the overlordship passed after his for-
feiture to the Clares, later earls of Gloucester,* and
followed the descent of the overlordship of Thrapston
(q.v.).
The under-tenants holding of the Bishop in 1086
were Edwin and Algar, who held 2 hides less one virgate,
which had increased in value from the time of Edward
the Confessor from 10s. to 25^.' Edwin's holding
possibly represented that of the Nowers (de Nodariis),
as he also held Stanion, which went with this holding,
while Algar also held Islip which went with Drayton
manor. In 1 2 17 Robert de Nowers presented to the
church.^" His successor Almaric was dealing with an
' V.C.H. Norihanls. i, 3116.
• Cal. Inq. iv, no. 435 ; Plae. de Quo
Warr. (Rec. Com.). 543.
* y.C.H. Nortbanls. i, 311*.
'» Rol. Hug. di Wtlles (Cant. &■ York
Soc), i, 13; Almaric, son of Ralph dc
Noweri, was holding landt in Nortbanti
in 1198-9, 1209 {Abhrev. Plac. Rec. Com.
9, 61). Robert may have been son of
Ralph de Nowers, living 1211 [V.C.H.
Bucks, iv, 345, where the Noweri pedigree
is let out).
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
eighth part of a knight's fee here in 1240'^ and held
three parts of half a fee of the honour of Clare in
1242-3.^'- He presented to the church in 1247^^ and
was succeeded before 1261 b_\' Robert deNowers,*'' who
may be the Sir Robert son of Sir Ralph de Xowers who
in 1 285 granted lands here to Thorney Abbey, reserving
Drayton and Robert le Lord'" were returned as holding
Lowick apparently as feolTees. John de Nowers, who
died in 1327, was succeeded b) his grandson John, son
of his son John.^' Grace, widow of John de Nowers,
the grandfather, was holding an eighth of a fee in 1346,'^'''
and presented to the church in 1349.^^ In 1357, Roger
<^?^/'
>£
H^0^^{iii^^%^^
^^i-
Lowick : Drayton House Gates
to himself 6 ' stikkes ' of eels yearly.'^ Robert was
followed by William de Nowers, who married Isabella,
daughter and co-heiress of Peter de Goldington, in the
time of Henry HI.'* Robert de Nowers, possibly as
trustee, granted the advowson and land in Lowick to
Almaric son of William and Isabella, in 1303." John,
son of Almaric, in l3l3conveyed, possibly in settlement,
the manor and advowson to John de Chetyngdon and
Elizabeth his wife,'" who in the following year were
returned as holding with Henry de Dccn half a fee in
Lowick and Stanion.'" In 1316 Robert de Verc,
Robert de Ardcrne, Jolin de Tychmarsh, Simon de
Tony, evidently a trustee, granted to John de Nowers
and Maud his wife an acre of land in Lowick called
Lolesacrc, the advowson of the church, and the
reversion of the manor of Lowick.-' John de Nowers
in 1364 granted to John Barker a rent of 8 marks from
tenements in Cliestcr and Lowick.^"' Hctwecn this
last date and 1367 the manor and advowson had passed
to Sir Henry Green of Boughton, and from this date it
followed the manor of Drayton (q.v.).
This manor of DRAT'TON passed, after the for-
feiture by the Bishop of Coutancc in 1088, to cither
Aubrey dc Vere, senior, or his son Aubrey the Cham-
" Fcft of F. Northanti. caie 173,
file 29, no. 395.
" nk. of Ftei, ii, 937.
'* Bridget, op. cit. ii, 247.
" Feet of F. Northantt. caic 174, file
^f>, no. 802.
"Red Bk. of Thorney, pt. iv, fol. 23 ;
L>nid. MS. 1029, fol. 86b.
'• /Ihbrn. I'lac. (Rec. Com.), 187.
" Feet of F. Northanti. 32 F.dw. I,
caie 175, file 60, no. 457.
" Ibid. ca«c 175, file 64, no. 134 ; John
died in 1 327 ; he married Grace, daughter
of Robert FitzNicl. Other members of
the Noweri family were granting lands to
Chetyngdon, Inq. a.q.d. 10 Edw. II, cxx,
14; Cat. Pal. 1317-21, p. 238 J 1354-8,
p. 284.
'• Ca/. Inq. Edw. II, v, no. 538;
Chin. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), Ixviii, 62 ;
Pytchley, Bk. 0/ Ftti (Northanti Rec.
Soc), 93.
"> Feud. Aids, iv, 29.
" I'.C.U. Buiks. iv, 345; Wrotteiley
I'ed. from Vlea R. 2;, 126; Agnei,
widow apparently of John de Noweri,
who died v. p., was holding in 1344. Feet
of F. Northanls. case 177, file 77, no. 261.
" Frud. Aids, iv, 449.
" Bridges, loc. cit.
"Col. Close, 1354-60, p. 407; Close
R. 31 Edw. Ill, m. 15.
"Co/. Close, 1364-8, p. 54.
236
HUXLOE HUNDRED
LOWICK
berlain and was held by the latter in the reign of Henry
I.''* On his death in 1 141, this manor passed to
Robert his younger son, who undertook to keep to the
agreement made by his father as to the tithes of
certain lands in Drayton.-' As shown under Great
Addington (q.v.), Robert married twice and had a
family by each wife, Drayton passing on his death to
Henry, his son by the second wife Maud, daughter of
Robert de Furnell. Henry died about 1 193-4, •''"'^ ''■'
son, who was known as Walter son of Henry son of
Robert, succeeded him. Walter married Lucy daughter
of Gilbert Basset of VVeldon, and either he or his son
Henry discarded the name of Vere and took that of
Drayton. Walter-** died in 1210-11, leaving a son. Sir
Henr)' de Drayton, who granted lands to the Hospital
of St. John the Baptist, Northampton.-' He died in
1253 seised of 2 carucates and 3 acres of land in
Drayton and Islip held of the king in chief, and a toft
held of Robert son of William de Lowick by the rent of
iJ. yearly. He was succeeded by his son Baldwin,
then aged 30 years.^ Baldwin died in 1278, seised of
a capital messuage, fishpond, 2 dovecots, a mill, 6 vir-
gates of land, £^ 4J. yd. rent of freeman at Drayton
and Islip, perquisites of court and 19 acres of land at
Lowick, all held of the king in chief, by the service of
finding a Serjeant at his own cost when the king was
with his army.^* His son John, aged 24 years and
more at his father's death, did homage for his father's
lands before 14 August 1278,^ and in 1284 he was
returned as holding 4 J hides in I slip and Drayton of the
king in chief by serjeanty.''
John died in 1 291, seised of the manor of Drayton,
held of the king as half a knight's fee, doing suit at the
court at Gcddington.** Simon his son was a minor in
1299,^ but in 1302 he had done homage without prov-
ing his age, and he had seisin.^' Simon settled Drayton
Manor on his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir John
Lindsey, in 1321-2.^' He was frequently engaged in
public aflfairs.^ He served on a mission to the abbey
of Cluny in 1323,'' and attended the king witli men at
arms for service against Roger de Mortimer and other
rebels in 1326,'"' and for an expedition to Gascony in
1 331,'" and represented Northamptonshire in the par-
liaments of 1322, 1329^- and 1336." He had licence
to impark 30 acres at Drayton and in 1327 had received
3 grant of free warren in Drayton, Islip, Lowick and
Irthlingborough." In 1331 he was appointed forester
of Brigstock and Geddington in Rockingham Forest.^
In 1338 Simon settled the manor,^' and was returned
in 1346 as holding half a fee in Drayton, Islip, Adding-
ton and Twywell." He made a further settlement
of lands in Brigstock and Lowick in 1355 on his wife
Margaret, with remainder to his grandson Baldwin
son of John de Drayton and his wife Alice in tail, and
then to Gilbert, brother of the said Baldwin.'"* Earlier
in the same year he had been indicted for the death of
Sir Ralf Darcy,'*' but on 3 May 1355 received the
king's pardon.*"" He died on 31 May 1357,^' and on
4 August following the manor of Drayton held of the
king in chief, and messuages, land and rent in Lowick
held of the Earl of Gloucester,^- were delivered to Mar-
garet his widow. Margaret died in 1358,-^^ and was
succeeded by her son John in the manor of Drayton,
the messuages, land, etc., slie had held in Lowick
being delivered in 1359 to Baldwin, son of John de
Drayton and Alice his wife.^'' In the same year John
de Drayton settled the manor of Drayton, held of the
king in chief, on Baldwin and Alice.^* From John
and Baldwin de Drayton the manor passed in 1362 to
Henry Green,*" son of Thomas Green of Boughton,
who married Katherine, the sister of John and
daughter of Sir Simon de Drayton.*' He was Lord
Drayton. Argent a
cross engrailed gules.
Green. Azure three
harts tripping or.
Chief Justice of England and the father of two sons,
Thomas his heir, and a younger son Henry, described
by Halstead as ' the delight and hopes of his old
father,' who endowed him with Drayton, Lowick,
Islip and Slipton, and procured his marriage with
Maud, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Mauduit, lord
of Warminster and other manors. Sir Henry Green
settled the manor and advowson of Lowick on the
younger Henry in 1367,*' and died in 1369.*" Thomas
the son succeeded, but his homage was respited
because he was fighting in France.^ Drayton was fur-
•• V.C.H. Nortbanli. i, 365a.
"Dugdale, Man. Angt. ii, 603.
" He wai probably the Waher de
Drayton who held half a fee in Northanti
in 1 194-5: Red Bk. oj Excheq. (RoUi
Ser.), 81.
" Drayton Chart. 63, 96, 105, 106.
Among the Drayton charter! of about
thit date there are reference* to Henry,
•on of Thomas de Drayton (105) ; William
de Drayton and Geoffrey his brother (105);
Henry ion of Walter de Drayton (63).
» Cal. Inq. Hen. HI, i, no. 284.
" Ibid. Edw. I, vol. ii, no. 260; Cal.
Fine, i, 97.
" Ibid, i, 99.
" Feud. Aids, iv, 12.
** Cal. Inq. Edw. I, iii, 10.
" Cal. Close, 1302-7, p. 396.
■• Ibid. 1296-1302, pp. 567, 609.
" Cal. Inq. Edw. Ill, X, no». 369,446.
'• Cal. Close, 1318-23, p. 556.
••Ibid. 716.
"Ibid. 1323-7, p. 651.
*' Ibid. 1330-3, p. 267.
*' Ibid. 1327-30, p. 527.
*'Ibid. 1335-7, P- 66i-
*• Ca/. Pat. 1327-30, p. 319; Cal.
Chart. 1327-41, p. 13 ; Chart. R. I Edw.
Ill, m. 29, no. 51 ; Plac. de Quo If'arr.
(Rec. Com.), 543.
*^ Cal. Pat. 1330-34, p. 53.
" Ihid. 1338-40, p. 128 ; inq. a.q.d.
f. ccxlvi, 16.
*' Feud, .lids, iv, 449.
" Cal. Pat. 1354-8, p. 284.
"Ibid. 236.
•^ Ibid. 210. In hit earlier days he, as
also Henry de Drayton, Oliver de Nowers,
and William le Deen of Lowick, had ap-
peared ai guilty of deeds of great violence.
Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 582 ; 1317-21, pp.
82, 177, 192; Cal. Close, 1318-23, p. 71.
" Cal. Inq. Edw. Ill, x, no. 369.
"Cal. Close, 1354-60, p. 369.
•• Cat. Inq. Edw. Ill, vol. x, no. 446.
237
** Cal. Closej 1354-60, p. 553. She wai
probably the daughter of William Cran-
ford.
** Chan. Inq. p.m. 33 Edw. Ill (2nd
nos.). 68.
" Bk. of Deeds belonging to I»ham«
of Lamport, p. 17.
^' Halstead, Succinct Genealogiei, 151.
(An account of the owncri of Drayton
manor, printed in 1685 by Henry, Earl
of Peterborough. Only about 24. copiet
arc said to have been printed, but the
volume was reproduced in facsimile .is far
as the Greens of Drayton are concerned,
fnr private distribution by Francis \'inton
Green of New York in 1895. ^"^ ^^py
of the original is at Drayton and two are
in the B.M.)
** Halstead, op. cit. 153-4.
*• Chan. Inq. p.m. 43 Edw. Ill (pt. i),
48.
*" Cal. Close, 1 369-74, p. 48 ; see also
P- 53-
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
ther settled on Henry Green by John de Drayton and
his son Baldwin in 1372-3.*' In 1385 he received the
grant of a market every Thursday in his town of
Lowick, and of a fair there yearly at Whitsuntide,
together with free warren in his lands in Lowick and
Islip.*'- His faithful service to Richard, by whom he
was knighted, won him various rewards, including the
house of the Lord Cobham in London with all its
furniture. He shared the king's downfall, and was
executed with the Earl of Wiltshire and Sir John
Bushey on 29 July 1399 after the treacherous surrender
of Bristol Castle.*^ He left two sons, Ralf and John,
and upon the petition of Ralf his forfeited property
was restored to his family by Act of Parliament in
1400." In the same year he was returned as seised of
the manor and advowson of Lowick, held of the Earl of
Stafford, and of the manor of Drayton held in chief.^
His heir Ralf complained in 1401 that his houses at
Lowick had been broken into and his property
damaged.*" After his brother John had in 141 5 released
his right, he settled Drayton and Lowick and the ad-
vowson of Lowick on his wife Katherine, daughter of
Anketill Mallory,*' who survived him. At his death in
141 7 she was holding the manor of Drayton of Joan
Queen of England as of her manor of Geddington, and
the manor of Lowick of Sir Thomas Green, kt., by
knight service.** She married as her second husband
Simon Felbrigge, who in 1428 was holding of the honor
of Gloucester the half- fee in I slip, Drayton, Great Ad-
dington and Twywell which had formerly belonged to
Simon de Drayton.*' Ralf was succeeded by his
brother John, who inherited all the lands his father
Henry had held except those which fell to Ralf's
widow Katherine in dower. He married Margaret,
daughter of Walter Green of Bridgnorth, and died in
1432-3, leaving issue Ralf, wlio died young, Henry
afterwards lord of Drayton, Margaret wife of Sir
Henry Huddlestone, and Isobel the wife of Sir
Richard Vere of Thrapston and Addington.'" Henry,
son of John Green, who was sheriff of Northamptonshire
in 1455, was dealing with the manor in 1454." In 1457
he settled the manor on the marriage of his daughter
and heir Constance, one of the richest heiresses of
England, with John Stafford, younger son of
Humphrey Duke of Buckingham, who was afterwards
created Earl of Wiltshire.'- By his will dated 3 Sep-
tember 1467 Henry Green directed that the feoffees
of his lands and tenements in Lowick called Coles
Thynge and Bcsviles Thynge should grant them
tf) Sir John Stafford and his wife on condition they
did not hinder the performance of his will, and
also his woods of Langliill, Farthingshaw, and Tolke-
thorp. He left directions for the disposal of his pro-
perty and of a chantry for two chaplains in the parish
church of Lowick. He was succeeded by his son-in-
law, John Stafford, who though a Lancastrian was
made Earl of Wiltshire in 1469-70. The earl died in
1473 leaving a son and heir Edward, aged three years.
Edward Earl of Wiltshire married Margaret daughter
of John Viscount Lisle, on whom he settled Lowick,
I slip, Sudborough, Ringstead, and other manors
and died without issue on 24 March 1498-9, follow-
ing on a sickness said to have been contracted when
on his way to fight for the king (Henry VII) at
Blackheath Field against the Cornish rebels." The
succession after his death was the subject of a
long dispute between the Earl of Shrewsbury, his
cousin, and the heirs of his grandfather, Henry Green.'*
His heirs were Elizabeth Clieney, late wife of Sir
Thomas Cheney, kt., and daughter and heir of Mar-
garet (who had married Sir Henry Huddlestone), a
sister and heir of Henry Green, father of his mother,
Constance Green, and the four daughters of her sister,
the other sister and co-heir of Henry Green, Isobel,
who had married Sir Richard Vere of Addington.
These last were Elizabeth, wife of John Mordaunt,
serjeant-at-law ; Amy or Anne, late the wife of Hum-
phrey Browne ; Constance, late the wife of John Parr ;
and Audrey or Etheldreda Vere, who married John
Browne.'^
In consequence of the death s.p. on 3 April 1502 of
Elizabeth Cheney, and in August 1502 of Constance
Parr, followed on 5 September 1506 by that of Anne
wife of Humphrey Browne, who left a son George, an
inquisition as to the property held by the Earl of
Wiltshire at his death was held in 1513-14,'* in which
it was returned that the manor of Drayton was held
in chief, and the manor and advowson of Lowick of
the abbot of Peterborough ; and that Thomas Mon-
tagu, William Pembcrton and others had been en-
feoffed of these manors to the uses of the Earl's will.
After judgment for John Mordaunt and Elizabeth his
wife, George Browne, John Browne and Audrey
his wife," an award by Robert Brudenell and Richard
Elliott assigned the lands of the Earl of Wiltshire to
John Mordaunt, Esq., and his wife Elizabeth ;
Humphrey Browne, Esq., husband of the late Amy
Browne, and George Browne, his son and heir ; Sir
Wistan Browne, kt., and John Browne, his son and heir,
and Audrey his wife, on the ground that deeds had
been produced giving thein in tail to the ancestors
of Constance, mother of the Earl of Wiltshire, and
that no will had been produced devising them to the
Earl of Shrewsbury. The Earl of Slircwsbury was to
receive 200 marks to be paid to him at St. Paul's in
London.'* In 1515 he released to the successful
claimants all his right in the manor of Drayton.'* John
Browne and Audrey his wife were dealing with one-
third of the manor and park of Drayton, and of the
manor and advowson of Lowick in 1526,*" and in 1537
a conveyance of these manors was made by George
Browne to Humphrey Browne.*' In Easter term of
1544 Sir Humphrey Browne and Elizabeth his wife
and their son George Browne with Mary liis wife
conveyed their third of this property to Sir John
Mordaunt, Lord Mordaunt,*^ the husband of Eliza-
*' Book of Dccdi belonging to Ishams
of Lamport, p. 17; Halitcail, op. cit.
p. 170.
••Chart. R. 9 6- 10 Ric. II, m. 14,
DO. 21.
" Ilalitrad, op. cit. 154, 183.
•"■ Ibid. i85,cit. /nj/>«imi(j, 13 Hen. IV.
•* Chan. Inq. p.m. file 155, no. 15.
"Cat. Pal. i3<)q-i4oi, p. 551.
"Cloic R. 3 Hen. V, m. 24; ibid.
4 Hen. V_ m. 20; Feet of F. Div, Cos.
4 Hen. V, no. 4;.
*' Chan. Ini). p.m. 5 Hen. V, no. 41.
'" Frud. Atdi^ iv, 49.
'" Haljtead, op. cit. 154.
" Ibid. 193-5.
" Ibid. 197, 201.
" llridgcn, lliit. Norlhanli. ii, 250.
" Halitead, op. cit. 210-21 1, 217, <S-c.
"Ibid. 223.
"Ibid.
" Ibid. 225.
" Ibid. 225-7.
'• Ibid. 227.
"" Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 18
Hen. VIII.
"Com. Pleai D.Enr.Trin. 29 Hen. VIII.
"• Feet of I'. Norlhanti. Ea»t.
35 Hen. VIII ; Recov. R. Trin. 35
lien. VllI, ro. 149.
238
HUXLOE HUNDRED
LOWICK
MoRDAUNT. Argent a
cbeveron between three
stars sable.
beth Vere, who had been created a baron by Henry VIII
in 1529. Lord Mordaunt was dealing with the
manors of Lowick and Drayton in 1560,** and died
in 1561.*' His son and heir John, who had been
created K.B. at the coronation of Anne Boleyn, and
who was a Privy Councillor under Queen Mary,
married as his first wife a great heiress, Elizabeth
sister and heir of John, and only daughter of Sir
Richard Fitzlewis of Thorndon. He died in 1571.
His son Lewis Lord Mordaunt, who succeeded him,
was one of the 24 noblemen who tried Mary Queen
of Scots at Fotheringhay ; and he added considerably
to Drayton House. He married Elizabeth, daughter
of Sir Arthur Darcy, by Mary, daughter and co-heir
of Sir Nicholas Carew, and died at Drayton in 1601.**
His son Henry, who succeeded him as Lord Mordaunt,
and who in the year previous
to the Gunpowder Plot enter-
tained James I at Drayton
House, came under suspicion
of having been engaged in the
plot, and spent a long term of
imprisonment in the Tower.
He married Margaret, daugh-
ter of Henry, first Lord Comp-
ton, and died on 13 February
1610 seised of the manors of
Lowick and Drayton, Lowick
Mill, etc.** His heir, his son
John, later received pardon of
the fine of j^io.ooo which had been imposed on him.*'
John, Lord Mordaunt, was created Earl of Peter-
borough in 1627. In 1640 he settled his manors of
Lowick, Drayton, Slipton, I slip, Grafton, and Adding-
ton Magna, parcel of the forest of Rockingham dis-
afforested,** and died in 1642 seised of these manors,
the mansion house and park of Drayton, etc.*' His
wife Elizabeth, daughter and heir of William, Lord
Howard of Effingham, a zealous Puritan and great
beauty, survived him until 1671. His son Henry,
who succeeded him, died in 1697,^ his property then
passing to his daughter Mary, the wife of Henry,
later Duke of Norfolk.** The Duchess of Norfolk
was divorced from her husband in 1700,'^ and married
a Dutchman, Sir John Germain, bart, in 1701.
She died without issue in 1705 and was buried at
Lowick. She had settled the family estates on her
second husband, who married as his second wife
Elizabeth daughter of Charles, Earl of Berkeley, and
died without issue in 1718.'^ He bequeathed the
estates left to him by his first wife to her successor,
Lady Elizabeth Germain, who in accordance with his
wishes left them at her death to Lord George Sackville.
He was the third son of Lionel Cranfield, the Earl
of Dorset and Middlesex, to whom she had made a
conveyance of the manors of Drayton, Lowick, Islip
and Slipton in 1719,'* the year after her husband's
death. It was not until 1769 that " the divine old
mistress of Drayton," as Horace Walpole called
the aged Lady Betty Germain, died. In accord-
ance with her will. Lord George Sackville (whose
succession was disputed by the family from whom
Drayton had been willed away) look the name of
Germain by Act of Parliament of 1770,*'' and was
seised of the manor and advowson of Lowick at the
inclosure of the parish in 1771,'* when about 1,150
acres were inclosed. By this Act an allotment was
made for tithes due from several homesteads, gardens,
orchards, home closes, ancient inclosures and woods,
Drayton Park, and certain old inclosures called Drayton
Old Park, and there was a saving of rights of the
lord of the manor of Lowick, and of the paramount
lord, the lord of the honour of Gloucester. Charles
Germain, Viscount Sackville, the son and heir of Lord
^>**>»0 6^^/s^
Germain. Azure a
cross engrailed or.
Sackville. Quarterly
or and gules a bend vair.
George Sackville, succeeded in 1785, and was dealing
with the manors of Drayton, Lowick, Islip, Slipton
and Sudborcugh by recovery in 1788" and 1 791.** In
1815 he succeeded his cousin in the dukedom of
Dorset. At his death unmarried in 1843 Drayton House
and the above manors descended to his niece Caroline
Harriet, daughter of the Hon. George Germain and
wife of William Bruce Stopford,** J. P., D.L., who in
1870 assumed the additional name and arms of
Sackville. Mr. Stopford-Sackville was the third
son of the Rev. the Hon. Richard Bruce Stopford,
fourth son of the second Earl of Courtown. He was
high sherifT in 1850 and died in 1872, his widow
surviving him until 1908. Their son Sackville George
Stopford-Sackville succeeded them and died in 1926,
when the estate passed to his nephew, Mr. Nigel V.
Stopford-Sackville, the present owner.
One and a half virgates in
Lowick which had been held
freely by Lefsi in King Ed-
ward's time was entered in
the Domesday Survey as held
by Sibbold of the Conqueror.
Its value had risen from 4J. to
loj.i This seems to be the I J
virgates held in the 12th cen-
tury Northamptonshire Survey
by Ralf Fleming of the fee of
David, Earl of Huntingdon,^
and at a later date by the
family of Lowick of the honour
of Huntingdon. Ralf, son of Sibbold de Lowick,
on becoming a member of the fraternity, gave his
David, Earl of Hun-
tingdon. Or three ptlcs
gules.
••Feet of F. Northanta. Mich. 1560,
ro. 1095.
•* G. E. C. Complete Peerage (Mor-
daunt). »5 Ibid.
•• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cccix, 200.
"' O. E. C. op. cit.
" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 14 Chai. I,
ii; Pat. R. 15 Chai. I, pt. 10.
"' Chan. Inq. p.m. 20 Chas. I, no.
64.
"> G. E. C. Complete Peerage.
" Feet of F. Northants, Mich. 32
Chas. II.
" G. E. C. op. cit.
" C. E. C. Baronetage, It, 173.
" Feet of F. Northants. East. 5 Geo. I.
" G. E. C. op. cit.
»« Priv. Stat. II Geo. Ill, cap. 2.
" Recov. R. Mich. 29 Geo. Ill,
287.
»«Ibid. 31 Geo. Ill, ro. 41.
"G. E. C. op cit.
' V.C.H. Northants. i, 34v<'f
"Ibid. 365.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
land to the abbey, confirming the gift in the presence
of his elder brother, Guy.* In 1227-8 Maud, widow
of Ralf de Lowick,'' was dealing with a messuage
which apparently Richard, son of Ralf de Lowick,
granted to U'alter de Denford of the fee of Earl
John^ Ump. Hen. III. It was returned in 1275-6
that Hugh, son of Alan of Lowick, had for 18 years
withdrawn 21. yearly from 2 assarts in Lowick,* and
in 1284 that Hugh son of Alan held half-a-hide of
land in Lowick of the honour of Huntingdon of the
heirs of Denford, and these heirs of Robert de Brus,
who was holding it of the king.' In the nest year
The church of ST. PETER consists
CHURCH of chancel 30 ft. by 17 ft., north chapel
29 ft. by 14 ft., clearstoricd nave of
four b>.ys 53 ft. by 16 ft., north and south aisles,
south transeptal chapel 19 ft. by 13 ft., south porch,
and west tower 14 ft. square, all these measurements
being internal. The south aisle is 8 ft. 3 in. wide
and the north aisle 11 ft. 4 in., the width across nave
and aisles being 40 ft. 5 in.
The building stands on high ground at the north
end of the village and, with the exception of the tower,
is faced with rubble. It has plain parapets and flat-
!:^131!iCENT
□ 14 S! Century
c. 1375-1400
EZD 1 5 in Century A
C3 Modern blocking of N. Doorway
JO 5 ^) 10 20
Tombs
I Rplpb Greece (I4l51t Wife
2JHenr^ Greeoe (WbgjtWife
iElorl of Wiltsl)ire(l500)
♦ DucJjess of NorfblKOTOJ?
.SSir Jobn Germon(l7l^
fe DuKe of Dorset (1543)
50
Scale of Feet
Plan of Lowick Church
Robert, son of Hugh Aleyn of Lowick, was dealing
with land in Lowick,* and in the same year Robert
son of Robert de Lowick, possibly the grandson of
Hugh, with Robert, son of William, settled a
messuage and land in Lowick.'
Robert, son of Robert de Lowick, and William,
son of Robert de Lowick, were dealing with lands in
Lowick in 1 295-1 303, and Robert, son of John,
and Letticc his wife from 1 330-1 343 with lands
which Robert Aleyn senior gave them and which
Thomas, son of Robert the clerk of Lowick,
held in 1370, John, son of John de Lowick being
a witness
10
In 1443 Ralf Lowick of Lowick appeared in a
plea of debt of ^11 61. 8J. to Sir Simon Felbriggc,
kt.'>
The name of Anthony Lowick appears as respon-
sible for a return of musters in 1539.^^ It seems
possible that the property of the Lowicks is repre-
sented by a manor of Lowick with which Thomas
Pyckeringe, Gent., and Margaret )iis wife were dealing
in 1585."
pitched leaded roofs. Internally all the walls are
plastered. There were restorations in 1869 and 1887.
The church was almost entirely rebuilt at the end
of the 14th century, but on the north side of the
chancel are an aumbry and a small blocked doorway
of the 13th century, while the two-stepped sedilia
and the piscina on the south side arc 14th century
work earlier than the general rebuilding. Of the plan
of the church before this rebuilding nothing definite
can be said, but the trefoiled piscina in the south
chapel appears to be of the 13th century, and altliough
the chapel itself was rebuilt there was probably
little alteration in the fabric of the adjacent south
aisle.
The rebuilding is clearly due to Sir Henry Green,
who succeeded his father as lord of Drayton in 1369.
The shields of himself and his wife, a member of
the Wiltshire family of Mauduit, occur on the roof
of t!ic north aisle and in the windows of the chancel.
The first work taken in hand was the reconstruction
of the nave and aisles. The nave arcades have plain
octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases, and
• Red Bk. o( Thorncy Abbey, I.anid.
MS. 1029, (ol. 7jb.
• Feet of F. Norlhanti, 12 Hen. Ill,
CJle 172, file 23, no. 236.
Ml.irl. Chart. 53B, 51 J, b.
• Roi. Ilund. (Rcc. Com.), 4 Edw. I,
p. 7.
' Feud. Aids, iv, 13.
' Cal. Close, 1307-13, p. 433-
•Feet of F. Northantn. 13 F.dw. I
caic 174, file 54, no. 158. llrnry dr
Drayton held a toft in Dr.iyton of Rolnrl,
•on of William de Lowick in 1252-3.
Cal. Iftij. lien. lll,i, 284.
240
'" Drayliin Chart. 35, 49, 61 ; Buc-
clcuch Coll. J II, 13, 16, 22.
" Cal. Pal. I44i-'i, p. 120.
"/.. an,/ /'. Urn. Ill I, xlv (I), p.
2S3.
" Rccov. R. Mich. 27 Eliz. ro. 3;
Feet of F. Northani», Ea«t. 27 Elir,.
LowicK Church from the Souni-wtsT
Li.uuK Chlrcii : ScKi;t.\ lo South CiuptL
HUXLOE HUNDRED
LOWICK
the arclics arc of two clumfcred orders, the outer
order being considerably stilted. The clearstory
is of the same date as the work below. The masonry
of the aisle walls is very rough, and it is probable
that here and elsewhere in the body of the church
the materials of the earlier building were re-used.
The narrower south aisle, as already mentioned, was
probably left without much alteration, a new doorway
being made and, at a later date, new windows inserted.
The blocked doorway of the north aisle has excellent
mouldings of two orders divided by a casement ;
the four-centred four-light windows arc divided by
battleniented transoms but have tracery of a very late
Decorated character. There is a window with similar
tracery in the west wall of the south chapel. The
character of all this work points to the end of the third
quarter of the 14th century as its date. The south
chapel appears to have been finished last : its south
window is of six lights with two battlemented tran-
soms and fully developed Perpendicular tracery, and
below the sill is a string-course similar in character
to that of the north chapel of the chancel.
The chancel and north chapel followed, the chapel
being the full length of the chancel and wider than
the north aisle, from which it is divided by an arch of
two chamfered orders on half-octagonal responds. The
wide single arch between the chancel and chapel may
be a later reconstruction of an arcade of two bays, but
the eastern part of the north wall was left unpierced,
and in this are the two sedilia of the chapel, with
ogee gabled heads, which seem to be rather earlier
than the rest of the work. The east windows of
both chancel and chapel are of five cinqucfoiled lights
with Perpendicular tracery and traceried transoms,
and the other windows north and south are of similar
type but of four lights. Those in the north wall
of the chapel, however, were altered to three lights
as the work proceeded, it being found advisable to
make a buttress in the middle of the wall, and the
lights next to the buttress were left out. There is a
very massive contemporary buttress covering the
south-east angle of the chancel, the walls of which
were weakened by the large window openings. The
double sedilia of the chancel are at two levels, with
ogee heads and crocketed canopies, and further west
below the window of the first bay is a moulded priest's
doorway. The chancel arch is of rather later character
than the rest of the arches in the church and was
evidently left for reconstruction to the last. The
rebuilding of the chancel seems to have been under-
taken as part ot the work due to Sir Henry Green,
but was probably not completed at the time of his
death in 1399.
The clearstory windows are four-centred and of
three cinqucfoiled lights without tracery. The east
window of the south chapel diflters considerably from
. the other windows of the church, being of four lights
with transom and thick central mullion dividing it
into two pointed openings with quatrefoil tracery and
a large pointed trefoil in the spandrel. The two-
light west window of the south aisle is of the same
character as those of the clearstory, but that in the
south wall is a late insertion with Perpendicular tracery
and dropped labels. The porch has an outer con-
tinuous moulded doorway and trefoiled openings in
the side walls. At the east end of the north aisle
is a cusped wall recess close to the ground, intended
for a tomb, but too small for a full-sized eftigy.
'I'he beautiful west tower is built of dressed stone
and belongs to the early part of the 15th century.
It is of four stages, with a vice in the north-west
angle, and is surmounted by a lofty lantern.*^ Above
the moulded plinth is a band of quatrefoils, and
another at the top of the second stage, level with the
top of the clearstory, and a third of quatrefoiled
circles below tlie battlemented parapet. The moulded
west doorway is set in a rectangular frame with quatre-
foiled circles and blank shields in the spandrels, and
about it is a three-light traceried window. The two-
light bell-chamber windows have tracery of distinctly
14th-century character, but this must have been the
result of conservative feeling on the part of the builders.
The lantern rises from behind the parapet and is
supported by flying buttresses from the four great
angle pinnacles which are raised so as to be nearly as
liigh as those of the lantern. All twelve pinnacles
are finished off by weathercocks. The three lower
stages of the tower arc blank on the north and south,
except for a small square-headed two-light window
in the third stage facing south. The lofty arch to
the nave is of three chamfered orders, the innermost
on half-round responds with moulded capitals and
bases.
Of the old woodwork of the church the chief
remains arc the roof of the north aisle, which is of
five bays with moulded beams and carved bosses,
and seven bench ends with poppy-heads in the south
aisle. The roofs of the cliancel, north chapel and
porch were renewed in 1887 ; the roof of the south
chapel is also modern and that of the south aisle
much restored. The south chapel is inclosed by a
modern stone screen.
The font is of the 13th century and consists of a
plain octagonal bowl on a pedestal of clustered keel-
shaped shafts.
An entry in the churchwardens' accounts records
the taking down of the rood-loft and the filling of
the holes in May 1644, and in the following July
payment was made for the ' glazing of the windows
when the crucifixion and scandalous pictures were
taken down.'
The pulpit and other fittings are modern.
The church contains a considerable amount of
ancient stained glass. The upper halves of the four
windows of the north aisle are filled with 14th-century
figure glass of extreme beauty. The figures, with
one exception, originally formed part of a large Tree
of Jesse, which may have been in the east window
of the chancel, and each is surrounded by vine
branches. The figures in the westernmost window
are, in the centre lights, David and Solomon, and in
the side lights, Rehoboam and Asa. The remaining
eleven figures from west to cast are Jacob, Isaiah,
Elijah, Habakkuk, Daniel, Ezckiel, Jeremiah, Isaac,
Joseph, Zacharias, and Micah. The glass has been
rearranged and portions of a broken inscription in
Norman-French occur at intervals. This inscription
seems to have come from an earlier window, one figure
of which, with the word ' drayton ' below, is preserved
in the easternmost light of this series, and represents
** It may have •uggcsted the lantern at i» the crown of the tower, while at Fothcr- the tower becomes the pedestal of thi»
Fotheringhay, but at Lowick the lantern inghay the proportions are altered and lantern.
241
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
a knight in armour kneeling and holding a church.
The figure appears to belong to the early part of the
14th century, and may represent one of the Veres
from whom the manor passed to the elder Sir Henry
Green. His shield displays the arms of Drayton
and his sword has IHS upon the pommel.^^ In the
traceries are numerous small figures of saints, amongst
whom are St. John Baptist, St. Andrew and St.
Michael, and two female figures, perhaps the Blessed
Virgin and St. Margaret. The order in which the
figures are placed is arbitrary and unnatural, and the
borders and other accessories have been destroyed,
but the glass is nevertheless of very great interest and
value.
The tracery of the lower halves of the windows in
the chancel and north chapel was originally filled with
a series of shields representing the alliances of the
Greens,*' but the royal shields of the east window
are gone, and new shields have been inserted in this
window and in one of the north windows of the
chapel. In the remaining north window of the chapel
and the two south windows of the chapel the old
shields remain."
In the middle of the chancel floor is the gravestone
of John Heton, rector of l.owick 1406-15, who died
in the same year as Ralph Green. Tlie slab is plain
except for a border inscription which reads 'Hie
jacet Dominus Johannes de Heton quondam rector
ccclesiedebenyfeldeet nuper de Lufwyck cujus aninic
propicietur Deus Amen. Credo quod Rcdemptor
mcus vivit et in novissimo die de terra surrectus
sum et in came mea videbo deum salvatorem.'
It remains to notice the series of monuments to
the lords of Drayton. The magnificent alabaster
table-tomb of Ralph Green (d. 1417), son of the
rebuilder of the church, and his wife Katharine
Mallory, stands under the arch between the chancel
and north chapel, and is one of the finest works of the
Chellaston school of carvers. The monument, as
agreed upon by indenture,'* was completed by 1420.
The sides of the tomb are panelled and contain
' images of angels with tabernacles bearing shields '
and standing on small pedestals. The tabernacle-
work is now much mutilated and the shields blank.
The inscription is gone. The effigies have already
been described."
On the north side of the south chapel is a marble
table-tomb with brasses of Henry Green, who died
22 February (' in fcsto Sancti Petri in Cathedra ')
1467-8, and his wife Margaret. He wears an elaborate
suit of armour, witli spurs, andhis wife has a head-dress
with horns. The shield of arms bears a chequered
coat quartering an engrailed cross : small brass
scrolls repeat the motto ' Da gloriam Deo.'
The monument of Edward Stafford, second earl
of Wiltshire, who died 24 March 1498-9, is in the
middle of the south chapel. It consists of a high
tomb of alabaster with elaborate efiigy,^" and round
the edge is an inscription formed by letters knotted
in allusion to the badge of the house of Stafford.^'
Tlicre are two memorials of the family of Mordaunt.
One of these is a tablet of Raunds stone in the eastern
sedilc of the north ch.ipel (which was mutilated to re-
ceive it), with a much abbreviated and ungrammatical
Latin inscription commemorating William, second
son of John, first earl of Peterborough, wlio died at
the age of eight in 1625. The other monument is
that of Mary, daughter of the second earl of Peter-
borough, who married first the seventh duke of
Norfolk and secondly Sir John Germain. The
duchess of Norfolk, who died 17 November 1705, is
buried against the east wall of the north chapel, and
her monument bears a recumbent statue,^^ and the
shield of Mordaunt as an escutcheon of pretence on
the shield of Germain. Sir John Germain married as
his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of Charles, earl
of Berkeley. He died 11 December 1 718, and his
monument, with a recumbent statue,^* is against the
north wall of the chapel. There is a small brass to
his widow (d. 1769) in the western sedile of the cliapel.
Against the east wall of the south chapel is a monu-
ment commemorating Charles Sackville, fifth duke of
Dorset (d. 1843), and his brother the Hon. George
Sackville Germain (d. 1836), wlio are there buried.
There are six bells, the treble by J. Tajlor and Co.
of Loughborough, 1896, the second and third undated
by Hugh Watts II of Leicester (1615-43), ^1'*= fourth
recast by Taylor in 1884, the fifth inscribed ' Richarde
Woode made me,' and tlie tenor by Hugh Watts,
1619."
The plate consists of a cup, paten, flagon, and
almsdish of 1723-4, each inscribed ' Loffwick Church
1724,' the cup in addition having the arms of Lady
Elizabeth Germain : tliere are also a plated cup and
breadholder.2*
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) bap-
tisms 1542-1794, marriages 1557-1649 and 1665-
1744, burials 1557-1692; (ii) marriages 1746-1753,
burials 1694-1812 ; (iii) baptisms 1795-1812 ; (iv)
marriages 1754-1811.
The advowson of St. Peter's,
ADVOWSON Lowick, was held with the manor,
but has been occasionally settled or
leased separately. In 1303-4 Robert de Nowers
granted it with a wood in Lowick by fine to
Amery or Almaric de Nowers,"' who recovered
it in the same year against Thomas Curzoun
and Margery liis wife."' John de Nowers, the
" The knight is figured in .Issoe. Arch.
Sac. Kcpori$, xvii, ■;(,. The fi(;urc h.i3
been ascribed to Sir W.iltcr dc V'lrc, who
aiiumcd the armi <>( Drayton, but the
Rev. (',. A. Poole al I ributcd it to the second
Sir Henry Green, the restorer of the
church ; see ' Stained Glass in Lowick
Church' (1861) in ibid, vi, 53-64.
" They are figured and described in
Halslead's Snccmri Ceiicnlofirt (ilS;).
" The existing shields are described in
^itoc. Arch. Sic. Re/ii. ivii, 71-73.
'•The indenture is dated 14 February,
141S-19; the cost was to be 'forty
pounds slcriing.'
" f'.C.H. Noribiinn. i, 401).
"The cfTigy is described in I'.V.H.
XorthiiHts, i, 413.
" On part of the edge a schoolmaslir
of l.owick has scr.TtcIicd his inilials and
the lf>;cnd ' quondam lutlim.i.qistrr luiius
opidi.' 'f'here were two chantries in the
church, that to Edward Stafford, I'.arl of
Wiltshire, was probably in the south
chapel. (I, inc. F.pis. Reg. Inst. Smith, 218;
Memo Smith, i6fi). In I4')7 Henry Green
by his will founded a chantry of two
priests to pray for the soul of Sir Henry
(ireen, the (Ihief Justice, and his ancestors
(Halstead, .S'urciffc/ Gfncalortci^ '99-)
'= Described in I'.C.II. Nortlxinii. i,
412.
"Ibid.
" North, Ch. Hells of Northants. 329.
The ttfth bell has the stamp and cross of
the early Leicester founders as used by
Robert Newconibc. Richard Wood may
have been a foreman in the Newconif>c
foundry. The treble was an ad<fition to
a former ring of five. The clock and
chimes date from 1891.
" Markham Ch. Plate of Norlhanli. 180.
" Feet of F. Northants. 32 Edw. I,
case 175, file 60, no. 4117,
■' DeBanco. R. Mich.32Edw. I,m. 158.
242
HUXLOE HUNDRED
SLIPTON
son of Alniaric, granted tlic wood and advovv-
son in 1313 to John de Chctyngdon and liis
wife Elizabeth, lessees of the manor.-* In 13^7-8
Thomas Daundelyn of Brigstock and Margaret his
wife conveyed it with a messuage, land, rent, and a
mill to Margaret, widow of William de Ros of
Hamelak,*' from whom it had passed before 1 349 to
Grace Nowers, Lady of Saldcne, who then presented.*
With the said messuage, etc., it was held in 1357 by
Gilbert de Bristowe and Margaret his wife, who in
that year conveyed the advowson, etc., by fine to
John Baskervyle.*' It was held by Sir Thomas
Bridges, Kt., in 1692.*^
A chapel in Drayton was attached to the mother
church of I slip (q.v.), and was referred to by Halstead
apparently as still in existence.^ It was probably the
cliurcii in Drayton which was granted by Stephen dc
Ecton to the priory of St. Mary of Northampton, to
which church Stephen, son of Stephen de Ecton,
Beatrice de Blokeville, and Peter Pocr made grants
of land in Drayton.
A chantry chapel, called the chapel of St. Mary, in
the parish church, was in existence in 1 317, when
Simon Drayton received licence at the request of
Queen Isabella to alienate in mortmain 100 /. of land
and rents in his manor of Drayton to a chaplain to
celebrate divine service there daily .^ At the petition
of Henry, Lord Wentworth, son and heir of Thomas,
Lord Wentv\'orth, this chantry was granted in 1584-5
to Theophilus Adams and Thomas Butler of London.^
Another chantry, for two chaplains, was founded
under the will of Edward, Earl of Wiltshire,** licence
being obtained in 1498 for its endowment with lands
to the yearly value of £fi 61. 8</.*' The manor of
Culworth was acquired for the purpose by Robert
Wliittk-l)ury,William Marbury, and Thomas Montagu,
gent, in the same year, with a messuage and 8 acres of
wood in Lowick held of the abbot of Peterborough.**
A commission was issued for this to be taken into the
king's possession in 1 546, when the chantry, with
the mansion in Lowick called the Chantrey House,
was granted to Sir Edward Montagu, chief justice.^"
The sum of j^l 10, being the amount
CIIARITIES of benefactions formerly given to the
poor, was laid out in 1729 in the
purchase of land in the parish of Oundle. Upon the
inclosure of that parish 7 acres of land at Oundle were
given in lieu of original land. This land is let for £\i
yearly which is distributed by two trustees appointed
by the Parish Council in money to about 14 poor.
An allotment of 20 acres was set out on the Lowick
inclosure to the churchwardens in lieu of land
aiuicntly appropriated to the repairs of tiie church.
Tlie land was let to S. G. Stopford-Sackville, Esq., at a
yearly rent of £\%. The OfHcial Trustees of Charit-
able Funds hold a sum of ;{;2,50l 12/. 5^., Consols
representing the investment of royalties received from
the Islip Iron Co., Ltd., and producing £i>2 \os. Sd.
yearly in dividends. The income is applied to
church expenses.
Mrs. Nlary Wheat in 1 77 1 gave /30 to the poor.
This legacy is now represented by £43 15J. lod.
Consols with the Official Trustees, producing^^l is. id.
yearly in dividends, which is distributed by the
churchwardens in money to three poor persons.
The recreation ground was conveyed by deed
dated 25 October, 1921, which is enrolled in the
books of the Charity Commissioners, pursuant to
the provisions of the Mortmain Charitable Uses
Act 1888 and Amendment Act 1892.
SLIPTON
Sliptone (xii cent.) ; Sclipton (xiv cent.) ; Slypton
(xvi cent.).
The small parish of Slipton formerly comprised
only 768 acres, but in 1885 a detached part of Twywell,
called Curtley, was added to it, bringing up the area
to 825 acres.' The ground rises east and west from
a stream flowing through the parish to the Nene.
The soil is clay and the subsoil ironstone and lias.
The crops are chiefly corn and roots. There is a
considerable amount of scattered woodland in the
northern part of the parish. Between Long Lown
Wood and Ekins Copse is a moat, probably repre-
senting the site of a manor house. The Islip Iron
Company have extensive mines of ironstone, and
tramways connect the quarries with the London
Midland and Scottish Railway.
The village stands on rising ground along the branch
road to Sudborough, the church being on the east
side. An Inclosure Act was passed for the parish in
1770, when 560 acres were inclosed.''
The population was 85 in 1921.
In 1086 the abbey of Peterborough
MANORS held one hide and one virgate in Slipton.*
In the survey of the time of Henry I
a hide and a virgate in Slipton was of the fee of William
de Curcy, Richard Fitz Hugh had two-thirds of a hide
of the abbot of Peterborough, and Roger, nephew
of the abbot, held one-third of a hide.'' The Curcy
honour extended into many counties, and was held
by four successive tenants of the name of William
de Curcy, the last of whom died in 1 194. His sistei
Alice married firstly Hugh de Nevill, the forester,
and secondly Warin Fitz Ceroid. John, son of Hugh
Nevill, died in 1235, leaving a son Hugh. The honour
passed later to the Lisles.' The Curcy manor in Slipton,
a member of Brixworth, the head of the honour in
•• Ftet of F. Northant*. 6 Edw. II,
caic 17;, file 64, no. 13;.
"Ibid. 21 Edw. Ill, case 177, file 78,
no. 342.
•"' Bridges, Hisi. Nortbanii. ii, 247.
•'Feet of F. NorthanH. 31 Edw. Ill,
caie 177, file 80, no. 449.
•■ Initit. Bks. (P.R.O.).
■' tlalstead, op. cit. 160.
•' Cal. Pat. I 3 17-21, p. 27.
•» Pat. R. 27 Eliz. pt. 4.
'" For the souls of Henry VII and Queen
Elizabeth, Edward Stafford; late Earl of
Wiltshire, his parents, John Stafford,
Earl of Wiltshire, and his wife Constance,
John Whittlebury, Esq., Humfrcy Stafford,
Duke of Buckingham, Humphrey Stafford,
Earl of Stafford, Sir Henry Green, kt.,
and Mabel his wife. Sir Henry Greene,
kt., and Maud his wife, and other relatives
(spcciBed), friends, and benefactors.
•' Cal. Pal. 1494-1509, pp. 162, 173.
" Ibid ; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), zziii,
39-
»" Pat. R. 3S Hen. VIII, pt. 7 ; L. and
P. Hen. Vlll, xxi (ii), g. 648, nos. 39, 52.
' Local Gov. Bd. Order, 25 Mar. 1885.
' Priv. Stat. 1 1 Ceo. Ill, cap. 4.
> y.C.U. Northanu. i, 314 b.
* Ibid. 365.
' The descent of the Curcy honour will
be found in TiiTCT, Honours and Knigbti*
Feti, i, 103 ct leq.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Northampton, was, it would appear, held in demesne
by Simon, son of Simon of Brixworth and Cranford
(q.v.), who held the advowson of the church of
Slipton. There were five successive Simons son of
Simon, the last of whom died in 1280 without issue.
In the early part of the 13th century, however, the
Simon son of Simon interest seems to have passed
to the Veres, when William, son of Robert, son of
Aubrey [de Vere] gave to the Master of the Hospital
of St. John of Northampton 3 virgates of land in
Slipton which Ralph de Stanhern and l.eza his wife,
who was the daughter of Wyberd, had held. This
gift was confirmed by Baldwin de Vere, brother of
William, and Hawise,his wife, and in 1227 by Walter de
Drayton.'
In 1235-6, the Hospital of St. John of Northampton
was holding a quarter of a fee in Slipton direct of
Margery de Rivers, heir of the Curcy honour.' From
Walter de Drayton the principal manor of Slipton
passed with the manor of Drayton in Lowick (q.v.)
to the present day.
Richard Fitz Hugh, who held two-thirds of a hide
of Peterborough, has been identified with Richard,
son of Hugh de Waterville,* whose mesne lordship
under the abbot of Peterborough went to the Bassing-
bournes of Benefield (q.v.). The Daundelyns, of
Cranford St. Andrew (q.v.), held under the Bassing-
bournes seven-eighths of a fee in Addington, and one-
eighth in Slipton.* In 1346 John Lewkenor was the
sub-tenant under John Daundelyn,'" and in 1359
John de Lewkenor and Elizabeth his wife conveyed
lands herf to Simon Simeon and another,^' which in
1380 were apparently included among the fees
formerly held by Geoffrey Lewkenor, and at that date
by Simon Simeon.*- This holding is lost sight of,
but probably became absorbed by the chief manor.
The third of a hide held by Roger, nephew of the
abbot of Peterborough, ancestor of the Torpel family,
has not been identified. It may have become the
small mesne fee held by the Fauvel family of Peter-
borough Abbey. In 1167 lands in Slipton are said
to have belonged to the Fauvel fee, and are so returned
in 1215 and 1346, the under-tenant being the Master
of the Hospital of St. John of Northampton.*^
A portion of the fee held by the Veres of Addington
of the honour of Huntingdon, in Twywell, which
extended into Slipton, has been dealt with under
Twywell (q.v.).
The church of ST. JOHN THE
CHURCH BAPTIST stands amongst fields on
the east side of the village, and is a
small stone building consisting of chancel 24 ft.
by 13 ft. 3 in., nave 38 ft. 6 in. by 17 ft. 6 in., with
bell-cote over the west gable, and south porch 8 ft.
square, all these measurements being internal.
A single-light window on the north side of the
chancel and the chancel arch are of 13th-century date,
and the main part of the fabric is probably of that
period, but it appears to have been largely recon-
structed in the 14th century, when the porch was
added and new windows inserted. At some time not
known the chancel was shortened by about 10 ft.,
but the foundations being uncovered in 1910 the east
end was rebuilt in accordance with the original
plan.*^ The building is of rubble throughout, and
the roofs are low pitched. Both roofs are modern,
the chancel slated, the nave leaded.
The modern east end of the chancel reproduces
no known ancient features, but the windows are in the
style of the 14th century. At the west end of the
south wall is an original square-headed window of
two trefoiled lights, and opposite it on the north
the lancet already mentioned, the head of which is
in two stones, and without a hoodmould.*'* The
chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner
springing from half-round responds with moulded
capitals and bases.
The nave has north and south doorways opposite
each other, and two windows on each side, those east
of the doorways being of three lights, the others of
two. The windows and the south doorway are of
14th-century date, but the north doorway, now
blocked, has a four-centred arch, and is a 15th-century
insertion or replacement. The west wall is thickened
out in the middle to carry the bell-cote, and is pierced
at about half height by a restored quatrefoil opening
witliin a circle. The bell-cote appears to have been
rebuilt in the l8th century, or perhaps later. Inter-
nally the walls are plastered, and the floor is flagged.
The porch has diagonal buttresses, moulded outer
arch, and a niche in the gable with a modern (1917)
figure of St. John the Baptist.
The font is ancient, and consists of a plain octagonal
bowl and stem. The pulpit and fittings are modern.
In the chancel is a floor slab to Samuel Deacon,
rector {d. 1 707), and a mural tablet to Thomas
Scriven, rector of Twywell and vicar of Slipton
{'i- 1737)-
The bell was cast by John Taylor and Co., of
Loughborough, in 1846.
In 1843 the church possessed a small silver cup,
a pewter flagon, and two pewter plates, but there is
now only a modern silver-plated paten and alms-
dish."
The registers begin in 1670 ; all the entries to 1812
are in one book."
The War Memorial cross in the churchyard is
fitted into the socket stone of an ancient churchyard
cross.
The advowson probably belonged,
ADyOJVSON in the 12th century, to Simon, son of
Simon, lord of the Curcy fee of
Brixworth, of which Slipton was a member. He seems
to have granted it to Cirencester Abbey. A dispute
as to the advowson arose between them in 1199."*
In the following year it was held by the abbey of
• DtijUin Chart, noi. 40, 41, 93, 96.
' I'jrrcr, op. cit. 118.
• Mellow* in PyubUy Bk. of Feti,
74 n.
• Ibid. 77 n.
'» Ffud. Atdi, iv, 448.
" Feet of F. North.inti. caie 177,
file 81, no. 483.
" Cal. Cloir, 1377-8, p. 443; Chan.
In'i p m 2 Kich. II, no. ;7.
" McUov,,, PylcbUy Bk. oj Feci,%^, 86,
87- ,
'* The new chancel was dedicated
22 February, 1911.
'* The sill it 4 ft. 6 in. above the ground
outBide,and thcupeninRis the f>amc height.
Whether it ihould be classed at a lowside
window is n(»t ceitain. The till of ihc
window on the south side is only 3 ft. 6 in.
above the ground, but the opening cannot
244
be classed at a lowside window. In the
south-west angle of the adjoining buttress,
close to the ground, it the head uf a small
blocked rectangular opening.
'* M.trkhnni, Cb. i'late of l^ottbants.z^t).
'" The register book recordt the plant-
ing of ash trees round the churchyard in
1740.
'" Curia lUg, R. (Rcc. Com.), i, 342,
432-
HUXLOE HUNDRED
SUDBOROUGH
Cirencester," but that abbey, which in 1 291 was
receiving a pension of 10;. from the church,-" liad
parted with the advowson before 1 251 to the Hospital
of St. John of Northampton, who made the pre-
sentation in that year.-' The hospital retained the
advowson until the Dissolution, when it came into
the hands of Francis Morgan and Ann his wife,
by whom it was conveyed in 1553 to John Lord
Mordaunt," lord of the manor, since when it has con-
tinued to be held witii the manor.
In 1614 the next presentation was granted to
Twyford Wathe,-' member of a family in Slipton.
In 1557 Twyford W'athc, of Slipton, was dealing
with land here,''* and in 1640 Twyford Wathe, of
St. Alb.ins, made a composition with John, Earl of
IVterborougli, for afforestation chargeable on lands
in Slipton, Lowick, Cranford, and Twywell, within
the ancient perambulation of the Forest of Rocking-
ham." In 1705 John Laughton was holding the
advowson.-"
Church Lands. By an Inclosure
CHARITIES Award in 1771 land was set out for
the church. The land was sold and
the endowment now consists of ^^500 10;. Sd. India
3 per cent. Stock with the Official Trustees of Charit-
able Funds producing £1$ os. \d. yearly in dividends,
which is applied by tlie rector and churchwardens
for church repairs.
SUDBOROUGH
Sutburg (xi cent.) ; Suburg, Subburc, Suthburg,
Silburk (xiii cent.).
Sudborough lies in the district formerly a part
of Rockingham Forest, and covers an area of 1,819
acres. The land, which is of clay, with a subsoil
of clay and limestone, rises north-east and south-west
from Harper's Brook, which flows in a south-easterly
direction through the parish. The principal crops are
wheat, barley and beans. There are considerable
stretches of woodland on the higher land. In the
north-east angle of the parish is Lady Wood Head,
to the west of which is .'\ssarts Coppice. In the north-
west is Cat's Head Wood, with Cat's Head Lodge
to the south of it. Snapes Wood, lower down along
its western boundary, is a continuation of Long Lovvn
Wood, in Slipton. In the extreme south of the parish
is Round Lown Wood, with New Lodge at its southern
end. The village lies in the valley of Harper's Brook
along a by-road leading from the main road from
Thrapston to Market Harborough, to the main
road from Thrapston to Kettering. The church is
on the south side of the road, with the rectory house,
a pleasantly situated stone building erected in 1826
by the rector of the day, on the east. Near by is the
school built in 1 84 1, by the Duke of Cleveland.
The manor house stands at the west end of the
village.
The population in 1921 was 207. At one time a
considerable number of women of the village were
employed in lace-making, and an extensive brewery
was carried on. Stone is procured for buildings and
roads, and about half a mile to the north of the village
there were formerly brickworks which have been
converted into a poultry farm.
There is a tradition that at a place called Money-
holes in the parish, where there are large earthworks
and ponds, once stood a monastic establishment,
but there is no evidence to support it. Another
tradition connects a corner near Lady Wood, now
ploughed up and long known as the Soldier's grave,
with the attempt of the Black Watch to return to the
Highlands in 1743. It is said to be the burial place
of one of the regiment who died during tiicir sojourn
in Lady Wood.
In the north of the parish is Sudborough Green,
with Sudborough Green Lodge.
Land in SUDBOROUGH was granted
MANORS in 1066 by Edward the Confessor to the
abbey of Westminster,* which in 1086
held 3 hides with a mill and woodland 7 furlongs in
length and 6 in breadth.^ By the reign of Henry I
this property had diminished
to 2j hides.* In 1276 it was
stated that the abbey had re-
turn of writs in Sudborough
and Islip,* and in 1329-30 the
abbot claimed to hold in
frankalmoin by virtue of a
grant of King Henry III, in-
spected and confirmed in 1 291
by his son King Edward.^ The
abbey held the manor until
the Dissolution, when the fee
farm of £'J was granted to the
dean and chapter of Westmin-
ster by Henry VIII,* fresh
grants of these manors being made by Queen Mary
in 1556,' and by Queen Elizabeth in 1560.*
The first recorded tenant of the abbey in Sud-
borough was Bartholomew de Sudborough, who in
1225-6 levied a fine with Richard, abbot of West-
minster, as to his custom and service.* The next
was Walter de Denford who, with Sarah his wife,
wlio was probably the heir of Bartholomew, levied a
fine with Henry de Drayton of common of pasture in
Sudborough in 1231-2."' In 1236 Isabel, wife of
Ralph de St. Sampson attorned the said Ralph and
William de St. Sampson against Walter de Denford
for a third part of the pannage of his wood of Sud-
borough." A fine was levied of land in Sudborough
between William [? Walter] de Denford and his wife
Sarah, and Gilbert de Denford in 1 240-1 ;'^ and in
Wf.STMINSTER AuBEY.
Gules the crossed keys of
Si. Peler toilh the ring of
S;. Edward in the cbtej
all or.
'• Curia Reg. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 175.
'• Pope Nicb. Tax (Rec. Com.), 39 b.
" Roi. Robl. Grojj««(c (Cant, and Vork
Soc), 244.
" Feet of F. Northantl, East. 7 Edw.
VI.
"Hatl. Chart, iii A.8.
" Releaic, Harl. Chart. 112 A.7.
"Ibid. Ill H.32.
« Initit. Bks. (P.R.O.).
' Cott. Chart, vi, 2.
' V.C.H. Norihanti. i, 317.
' Ibid. p. 365a.
« Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com), ii, 7.
' I'lac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com),
506.
' L. and P. Hen. I'lII, xvii, g. 714 (5
PP- 394. 396) J P"K 34H"> Vlll.pt. 5,
245
' Ibid. 3 and 4 Phil. & Mary, pt. 5.
Mbid. 2 Eliz. pt. II.
• Feet of F. Northants, 10 Ilcn. Ill,
case 172, file 18, nu. 124.
'0 Ibid. 16 Hen. Ill, case 172, file 26,
no. 304.
"Cat. Close, 1234-7, p. 33+-
" Feet of F. Northants. 25 Hen. Ill,
case 173, file 32, no. 456.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
1249 Sarah, the widow of Walter do Dcnford, brought
an assize of novel disseisin against Gilbert, son of
Walter, and others of a tenement in Sudborough."
Either Sarah herself or possibly a daughter of her
name may be indicated in a fine levied between Walter
do la Hyde and Roger de la Hyde and Sarah his wife
of a messuage and land in Sudborough in 1259-60.**
Before 1284 Sarah de Denford had granted the manor
to Reginald de Waterville and Extranea his wife when
Reginald was holding the vill of the abbot.** From
Reginald, who survived his wife, it descended to his
three daughters, Joan, the wife of Robert de Vcre,
Maud, sometimes given as Elizabeth, the wife of
Robert de Wykeham, and Margaret, the wife of Henry
de Tichmarsh.*^
Tlie third part which went to Robert de Vere and
Joan, his wife, passed to their son Robert, who
apparently forfeited for rebellion,*' and his lands in
1329-30 were in the hands of Henry de Percy and
Robert de Tolthorp,*' probably feoffees in trust fur
Maud his wife, who had an interest in the manor as
dower, witli reversion to Sir Nicholas de la Beche.'*
What Sir Nicliolas's interest was is uncertain, but he
and his wife Margery died without issue and it then
ceased. Tliis third seems to have passed to the
Mallorys. In 1358 William Mallory of Sudborougli
granted a rent of j^20 out of his manor of Sudborough
to John Pyel, citizen and merchant of London, and
Joan his wife,-" and in the same year .\nketyn Mallory
granted a rent of 20 marks to William de Sandford.
John Pyel's holding was conveyed by him in 1363 to
Henry Pyel, rector of Warkton and others,-* and in
1376 Henry Pyel, then archdeacon of Northampton,
and others conveyed the manor of Sudborough to
John Pyel of Irthlingborough, Simon Simeon and
others.22 In 1385-6 Simon Simeon with John
Curtcys granted to Joan, widow of John Pyel, a rent
of 50 marks out of the manors of Irthlingborough,
Cranford, Sudborough and elsewhere.^' It is doubt-
ful if John Pyel's estate ever comprised the manor or
a part of the manor. Ankctyn, who succeeded William
Mallory, in 1 360, settled a manor of Sudborough on
his daughter Ala and her husband, Thomas Green of
Isham, and their heirs.-' Another daughter, Kather-
ine, also brought to her husband Ralph Green,
nephew of Thomas Green, apparently a manor of
Sudborough. Sir John Dantrc and Alice his wife,
daughter of Randolph Boys and heir of Robert Vere,
in 1394 attempted unsuccessfully to obtain possession
of the manor from Thomas Green.^'' John Green
succeeded his father Thomas^" and died heforo I.)45.
His widow Isabel is said to have occupied with Richard
Stacy, since the death of Sir William Mallory in 1445,
lands in Sudborough of which Sir William had died
seised, and left a son and heir Tliomas.^' This
Thomas Mallory dispossessed Thomas, son of John
and Isabel Green, of the manor of Sudborough, held of
the abbey of Westminster,^ but Thomas Green
later recovered possession. The manor continued to
descend in the Green family, of which Sir Thomas
Green, kt., who witnessed a charter of Edward,
Earl of Wiltshire, in 1494, dealing with the Wykeham
manor, was probably a member.^' In 1529-30 this
Green manor of Sudborough was in the hands of
Richard Rayne and Joan his wife, daughter and heiress
of Thomas Green, deceased, who settled it on their
son Thomas. In 1531 and again in 1534, Thomas
Rayne, son of Richard Rayne and Joan, with Dorothy
his wife, were dealing with this property,''" these
conveyances being probably preparatory to a con-
veyance of this manor to the owners of the other
manor of Sudborough representing the Wykeham
third, then held with Drayton in Lowick (q.v.).
The third of Robert de Wykeham and Maud de
Waterville was conveyed by Robert, their son, and
his wife Eliz.ibeih, in 1309-10 and 1311-12, to Robert
de Ardcrn.^* The wife of Robert de Ardcrn was
Nichola, possibly the daugher or sister of Robert de
Wykeham.^ Ardcrn had grants of free warren in
his lands at Sudborough in 1317, 1327 and 1328 and
he was holding them in 1329-30.^ After his death
Nichola his widow married Sir Thomas de Wake or
Wade,** to whom this third of the manor passed. In
1345 Sir Thomas Wake and Nicliola conveyed their
tliird to Simon de Drayton,^ to whom it was confirmed
three years later by John de Wykeham, grandson of
Maud de Waterville, and Parnel liis wife.^ It passed
after the death of Simon de Drayton to his son John
de Drayton and his grandson Baldwin.*' From them
it went about 1362 to Sir Henry Green, who had
married Katherine, daughter of Simon de Drayton.'^
From this time this third part, and from the middle
of the 16th century the Vere third part, passed with
the manor of Drayton in Lowick (q.v.) until the end
of the 17th century.
When Bridges wrote it was in the hands of Lady
Torrington, relict of Thomas Newport, Lord Tor-
rington, by purchase from the Earl of Peterborough,
and according to him Lady Torrington owned vvitli
the manor all the parish except two or tluee small
freeholds. Lady Torrington died in 1735.'°
In 1805 it was held by William Henry, Earl of
Darlington,'"' who was created Duke of Cleveland in
1833, and the Dukes of Cleveland were later in the
century lords of the manor.**
The third of the manor which went to Henry de
" Cal. Cloit, 1247-;!, p. Z27.
" Feet of r. Northant«. 44 Hen. Ill,
caie 174, file 43, no. 732.
" Feud. Aidi, iv, 12; Plac. de Quo Warr.
(Rec. Com.), 570.
'• Ibid ; Pyuhley nk. of Fees, 43.
'' C'j/. Pal. 1321-4, p. 156; Fine R.
1; Edw. II, pt, I, m. 12.
" Plar. de Quo Ifarr. (Rec. Com), 570.
'• Cal. Cloie, 133') 4', P- 129.
"Clote R. 32 Edw. Ill, mm. 9, 11 ;
Cal. Cloie, 1354-60, p. 521.
" Iliid. I3'>'>-4| p. 523.
" Feet of F. Northanti. caic I78,file8;,
no. 696.
'• Cloie R. 9 Rich. If.pt. i.m. S.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 and 10 EJw. IV,
no. 16; Feet of F. Northanti. caic 177,
file 81, no. 491.
«' Cal. Close, 1392-6, p. 260 ; Cal. Pal.
i4oi-<;, p. 443.
'• Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 and 10 Edw. I\^
no. 16.
" Ibid. 25 Hen. VI, no. 4.
'" Chan. Inq. p.m. 9 and 10 Edw. IV.
no. 16,
" Robert Ilalilead, Surcinrl Geneahgiei,
10(1.
'" Feet of F. Northanti. Eait. 22 lien.
VIII; Mil. 26 Hon. VIII.
"Feet of !■'. Northanti. caie 175, file
62, no. 50 ; file 64, no. 104.
»« Wroltcslcy, /><■,/. from Vha R. 2S.
"Cal. Chan. R. 1300-26, p. 366;
Chart. R. I Edw. Ill, m. 25, no. 45;
2 Edw. Ill, m. 10, no. 33.
•* Wroltcslcy, loc. cit.
" FeetofF. Northanti. case 177, file 77,
no. 298.
" Ibid, file 78, no. 348.
•' Cal. Pal. 1354-8, p. 2R4.
'" Il.ililead, op. cit. 151.
" llul. oj Norlhatils, ii, 254; G.E.C.
Complrle Peerage.
•" Rccov. R. Trin. 45 Geo. Ill, ro.
4r>8,
•' Whellan, llisl. of Norlhanli. (1878
Ed.), 774-
246
SuDBOKOLcii : Anglo-Saxon Cross
Sldboroh.h Church from thi Solth-easi
HUXLOE HUNDRED
SUDBOROUGH
Tichmarsh and Margaret dc Waterville passed to their
son John and from him to his son Henry and his wife
Joan.^' It dcscenJoJ with the Tichm.irsii Manor
in Tichmarsh (qv.), and was represented by the manor
of Somercetts in Tichmarsh, Sudborough, and I.owicii
of which a grant was made to John and Cjilbcrt
Pickering in 1587-8."
In 1490-1 a dispute arose about common of pasture
in Lowick Leyse pertaining to Lowick, and Brigsy
Leycs (Brigstock Leys) pertaining to Sudborough,
which was referred by the inhabitants to Kdward,
Earl of Wiltshire, as chief lord over botli lordships.**
SUDBOROUGH P.-IRK, which was originally
held with the manor,*^ was in 1670, with a messuage,
10 acres of meadow, 530 acres of pasture and 10 acres
of wood and appurtenances in Sudborough, Lowick,
and Brigstock, in the hands of William Montagu, and
Mary his wife, who conveyed it by fine to Montagu
Lane.«
SUDBOROUGH GREEX was referred to in 1540
in a licence to impark Lyvedcn Park, the westcrri
side of which was described as abutting upon it.*'
In 1795 an Inclosure Act was passed for Brigstock,
Stanion, and such part of the parish of Sudborough
as is called Sudborough Green. It was stated that
the commoners in Brigstock and Sudborough inter-
commoned with each other in certain commons,
called Brigstock Commons ; and the Great and Little
Green adjoining the same, and that the cattle upon
these commons were liable to escape into the Haye
or Walk of Farming Woods, part of the Forest of
Rockingham. An allotment of these greens was
made.**
The church of JLL S.IINTS consists
CHURCH of chancel 33 ft. 4 in. by 15 ft., nave of
three bays 40 ft. 3 in. by 17 ft., north and
south aisles each 8 ft. 6 in. wide, north and south
transcptal chapels each 14 ft. by 13 ft., south porch,
and west tower 9 ft. by 9 ft. 10 in. The width across
the nave and aisles is 38 ft. 8 In., and across the
transepts 50 ft. 6 in. All these measurements are
interna!. The church was entirely rebuilt in the
second half of the 13th century, probably in place of
an aisleless cruciform building, the influence of which
is apparent in the transeptal plan. The tower and
nave with its aisles seem to have been rebuilt first,
followed by the transeptal chapels and chancel,
which were completed c. 1280-90. No substantial
addition was made subsequently other than the
porch, which was built in the 15th century, when
new windows were also inserted in the aisles. Tlie
building was repaired in 1808, and again in 1830
when a west gallery was erected. In 185 1 the gallery
was taken down and the north aisle rebuilt ; the
porch was rebuilt in 1870, and the chancel restored in
1871-72. At a later restoration (1891) two stones
were found under the north-east pier, which together
forriied part of a pre-Conquest cross. They were
replaced in the position in wliich they were found
but unfortunately covered with cement so that the
carving is obliterated.*'
The chancel is divided externally into two bays by
buttresses, each of which is finished by a small pedi-
ment set in the middle of its upper slope and orna-
mented on the outfr face by a spherical triangle with
ciisping. Over the pairs of buttresses at the eastern
angles are handsome octagon pinnacles, the tops of
which seem to have disappeared. There is a plain
doorway in the south wall. Tlie windows retain their
original geometrical tracery, of a very elegant type,
with applied cusping ; the lights have trcfoiled heads,
and the mullions are moulded. The east window is
of four lights with a flat head, and has internally a
segmental rere-arch. The lateral windows on either
side from cast to west are respectively of three, two,
and one light, the narrower openings having obtusely
pointed rerc-arches. On the north side the single
light of the western window is lowered with a transom,
forming a low-side opening. Tlie corresponding
window on the south has a low sill and may have been
planned in the same way, but the lower part was never
open. This window, like all the others, has a square
hood outside ; in this case the hood is finished with
very curious head-stops, rudely carved with roughly
indicated hair.
On the south side of the chancel internally are two
sedilia with beautiful late 13th-century moulded
arches springing from dwarf columns. In the eastern
seat, which is a step higher than the western, is a
piscina with fluted bowl. Opposite, in the north
wall, is a tomb-recess with a drop arch, containing an
efhgy of Sir Robert de Vere (d. 1249), which has
already been described.^
The arch between the chancel and nave is of the
same character as the arches of the nave arcades, with
rather plain half-octagon responds. The piers of the
nave are cylindrical, with bases which in some cases
have water-mouldings. Tlie capitals are of two types
which difler slightly in design as regards the abaci
and the section of the upper mouldings. The arches
are of two orders, the inner order having a hollow
chamfer. From each pier a transverse arch is carried
across the adjoining aisle to a respond ; the chamfers
of tliese arches arc stopped by small broaches above
the capitals. Similar arches are carried across the
cast wall of each transeptal chapel. The transept
windows have good geometrical tracery, which in the
north chapel has been much restored ; that in the
three-light soutli window of the south chapel is a
remarkably beautiful example of early bar-tracery.
In this and in the east window are some fragments of
old glass ;^l and in the south wall of the south chapel
there is a piscina with octagonal bowl, large hollow-
chamfered arch and hood.
The windows of the aisles, as already noted, are
15th-century insertions. The north and south door-
ways of the nave are contemporary with the arcades,
and the north doorway has a well-preserved roll and
triple fillet moulding in its outer order. The porch
has a high gable and outer arch of two moulded orders,
the inner springing from half-round responds with
moulded capitals. The walling throughout is of rubble,
with plain parapets to chancel and aisles, and eavcd
roofs to the transepts. The chancel roof is leaded.
*■ Plot, de Qut Warr. (Rec. Com.), 570.
"Pit. R. 30 Elij. pt. 8.
** Hililcid, op. cit. 205.
" Feet or F. Div. Cot. Hil. 6 Jii. I ;
Cbao. loq. p.m. (Scr. ii), cccix, aoo.
" Feet of F. Northanfs. Ilil. 21 and
22 Chas. II.
«' L. and P. Hen. VI II, xv, g. 831 (50).
" Priv. Stat. 35 Geo. Ill, cap. 58.
•" Norlhants. N. and Q. (New Ser.), i, 26.
'» V.C.H. Noribanls. i, 394-;.
^' 15th-century quarries with fleurs dc
lii and ' Maria ' in monogram.
247
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
The arch between the nave and tower is of three
orders, the innermost order being set upon half-
octagon responds with hollowed sides. The tower
itself is of the same date as the rest of the church, and
is of three stages, with plain parapet, angle pinnacles
and pyramidal roof with vane. Below the parapet is
a corbel table with large dog-tooth alternating with
heads and other ornaments widely spaced. There
are diagonal buttresses of two stages on the west side
and a renewed three-light west window on the ground
floor. The middle stage has a single trefoiled window
north and south, and on the west a circular sound-
hole. The two-light belfry windows have early
bar tracery. There is no tower stair.
The font is a plain octagonal bowl with octagonal
pedestal and a 17th-century cover. There is a stone
bench along the wall of the south aisle internally.
Against the east wall of the north transept is a bracket
for an image, and near this are the brasses of William
West (d. 2 Feb. 1 390-1) and his wife Joan (d.
16 Dec. 141 5), with a curious representation of their
children, headed by a priest vested in apparelled alb,
crossed stole, amice and maniple. This is inscribed :
Orate p aiab) supdcore Witti West W Jolina ac pro
alab) dtTi Johis West capetti Willi West marbler et
Alicie qndam v.xis Rici Alasoii. Necno W octo pilore
lib'ore pdcore Willi W lohanne. Pater nost fjf Aue.
The roofs, pulpit and other fittings are modern.
The organ is in the south transept, which also forms
a vestry. The interior of the church is plastered.
There is a ring of five bells, the treble being an
addition in 1897 to a former ring of four. It is by
Taylor of Loughborough. The second and tenor are
by Thomas Norris of Stamford, 1647, the third is a
blank bell, and the fourth, inscribed 'Thomas,' bears
the stamp of the early Leicester founders, but is
probably by Thomas Newcombe II (1562-80).*^
The plate consists of a cup of 1820, a paten of 1842,
and a flagon of 1857, all London make, and a silver
basin with the mark of William Shaw and William
Priest, of London.''*
The registers before 1 81 2 are as follows : (i) bap-
tisms 1660-1708, marriages 1662-1703, burials
1660-1707 ; (ii) baptisms and burials 1704-1812,
marriages 1708-1753 ; (iii) marriages 1754-1812.
The first volume contains a list of briefs 1708-64,
and a terrier of rectory lands. There are church-
wardens' accounts from 1675 to 1769, and a tithe
book 1781-1838.
The advowson was held by the
ADVOWSON abbey of Westminster with the
manor until the Dissolution,^ and
was granted to Thomas, bishop of Westminster, in
1541.*^ Ten years later it was granted to Nicholas,
bishop of London, by Edward VI,^^ but was held in
1608-9 with the manor by Henry Lord Mordaunt."
The presentation was made alternately by the Crown
(presumably during vacancy of the see), and the
bishop of London from 161 7 to 1648,^ and since
then by the bishops of London^* until, after 1786,
Sudborough was transferred to the bishopric of Peter-
borough, in whose gift it now is. A vicarage had been
ordained early in the 13th century, a pension of one
gold piece (mark) to the perpetual vicar being reserved
on presentations to the church made c. 1214,^ and
one of zs. in a presentation made in 1221-2.*^
Tithes in Sudborough were held by Robert, Earl
of Salisbury, in 1608.*^
A piece of grass land containing
CHARITIES II acres appropriated to the repairs
of the church is let by the church-
wardens to the Islip Iron Co., Ltd., for /12 yearly,
which is applied towards the upkeep of the church.
Henrietta Laura, Marchioness of Bath, established a
Sunday School in 1788, and transferred a sum of
;^666 13/. ^d. 3 per cent, annuities to trustees upon
trusts declared in a deed dated 20 October, 1788, for
the support of the school. Tlie stock is now
£666 135. ^d. Consols with the Oflicial Trustees of
Charitable Funds, producing ^^16 13J. \d. yearly in
dividends. The trustees consist of the rector and
three others.
TWYWELL
Tuiwella (xi cent.) ; Twywclle, Twiwell (.\ii cent.).
The parish of Twywcll is low-lying, nowhere rising
over 300 ft. above the Ordnance datum. The sub-
soil is Great and Inferior Oolite. One of the many
small streams of the district crosses the parish in the
south. Twywell station, on the Kettering and
Huntingdon branch of the London Midland and
Scottish Railway, lies to the south-cast of the village.
The parish was inclosed by private Act of Parliament
in 1765,* and by a Local Government Order, dated
25 March, 1885, the detached portion of the parish,
called Curtlcy, was joined to the parish of Slipton.
In 1874, the ironstone deposits in the parish were
worked by the Newbridge Iron Ore Co.^ A number
of flint weapons and a few relics of the Roman occu-
pation have been found in the parish. The manor
house stands in the village and formerly the family
of Mulsho for several generations had a house of
some size.' There Mrs. Hester Chapone, the essayist
and writer of poems and pamphlets, and daughter of
Thomas Mulsho, was born in 1727.* The rectory
house, a large plain three-story stone building, erected
in 1760, stands to the south-west of the church.
Here lived Horace Waller, who was rector of Twywcll
from 1874 to 1895, and is known as an explorer in
Africa. On his return to England he look a very
active part in the movement against the slave trade
in East Africa, and wrote many works on Africa.*
"North, Ch. Belli of Norlhanii.
410.
'-' M.irkham, Ch. Plair of Norlhantt.ij^.
The maxV on the baiin ii indiitinct, but
imjr be that for 1755.
" Epi«c. ReR. ; Cat. Pal. etc.
" A. onrf P. Urn. I' 1 1 1 , Kvi, g. 50J (35,
P- »44)-
" Pat. K. 4 Edw. VI, pi. 4.
" Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mil. 6 Jas. I;
Chan. Ini|. p.m. (.Scr. ii) cccix, 200.
'" Instil. Hks. (P.R.O.) 1617-4S.
" Ibid. i6fio 1786, etc. ; Lewis. Topof^.
niii. (1849). Ttic presentation was the
•iibjcct of Ch.inccry Proceedings in 1623.
Chan. Proc. (Scr. ii), bdlc. 338, no. 12.
•" Rot. l/uro. dr ll'elhs (Cant. & York
Soc), i, 3, 21, 66.
»' Ibid, ii, 101;.
"' Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich. 6 Jas. I.
'Act of Parliament, 5 Geo. Ill, c.
35-
' Whellan, II11I. of Norihanls. 1874.
" Bridges, //ii(. Norihanls. ii, 262 ; cf.
Chan. Int^. p.m. (Srr. ii), dcclxxx, 58.
* Did. Nal. Wing.
» Ibid.
248
HUXLOE HUNDRED
TWYWELL
There are a few two-story lytli- century stone
houses in the village ; one at the south end with a
mullioncd bay window on the ground floor has a
panel in the gable inscribed t " a 1663, and the
cottage now used as the post office is dated 1660.
Another house with thatched roof has mullioncd
windows and a good four-centered doorway, and west
of the church is a picturoscjuc, but much modernised,
I7tli-century farmhouse with stone-slated roof and
wooden dormers ; attached to it is a rectangular
dovecote with end gables and lantern. Another
dovecote of the same character stands in a field
farther north.
In 1086 the abbey of Thorney held
M.1N0RS 3 hides, less it virgatcs, of land in
7U"i'li'KLL,* but a few years later their
holding was said to consist of 2 hides only.' The
abbey obtained various additional grants of land in
the following centuries,' and
held the manor of Twywcli in
frankalmoin of the king in chief
until the Dissolution of the
Monasteries.' Abbot Guntcr
(1085-1 1 1 2) granted it for life
to Aubrey dc V'ere, the Cham-
berlain, and a similar grant
was made to his son Robert.*"
In the 13th century. Abbot
Jakesley (1261-93) granted it
for life to Sir William Hay,
knt., in exchange for the manor
of Clapton ; Sir William as-
signed the manor to John Hay, and Abbot Odo (1293-
1305) gave certain lands in it to the convent, for the
celebration of the anniversary of John Hay, at a rent
of 2/. 6d. a year." Although leases of the site were
made, the manor seems usually to have been held in
demesne.^ In 1544, Henry VIII granted it to
William, Lord Parr of Horton, but his lands escheated
to the Crown*' and the manor was not alienated,
although various grants and leases were made and
certain tenements in the parish were granted out.*'*
A second manor of TII'l'lt'ELL can be traced back
to an entry in Domesday Hook. In the reign of I'ldward
the Confessor, Earl Waltlieof
held it, but in 1086 his widow
Countess Judith had I J hides
of land here.*" In the follow-
ing century David, Earl of
Huntingdon, owned it,^' and
it was held of tlie Hono\ir of
Huntingdon for half a knight's
fec.^^ I'.irt of the land attached
to it seems to have been in
SIipton.23
This manor seems to have
been a member of the manor
of Harrold (co. 15eds), which
was held by the Morin family of that part of the
honour of Huntingdon which fell to Hastings,
Earl of Pcmbroko.2-» In the middle of the 13th
century Ralpii Morin conveyed his interest to John
TTTT7T
Ekins. Argittt a bend
indcnicd iable bclKCen
Itl'O crosilcis Jilchy gules.
Thorney Abdey.
Azure three crozicrs be-
ttveen as many crosslets
or.
Grey. Barry ardent and
azure tvilh three roundels
gules in the chief.
de Grey, and this mesne lordship continued with the
family of Grey de Ruthin.^^
The tenants in demesne were the Veres. Aubrey
de Vere, the chamberlain {d. 1 141), held lands here for
life, about which he made an agreement with the
abbot of Thorney. This agreement was confirmed to
Robert, his younger son.^* Robert married, as his
cond wife, Maud, daughter of Robert de Furnell
After 1574, the manor seems to have been granted to sc(_ , ._
Sir William Cecil," later Lord Burghley, but probably of Twywell, with whom he received an addition to
he only obtained the site of the manor and the land his property in Twywell." This manor passed with
that had formerly been leased \\'ith it. In 1592, his
son Thomas sold the 'manor' to Robert Dallyson,'*
who in 1595 sold the site with 200 acres of land besides
meadow, pasture, wood, etc., to Robert Ekins.*' This
property was called the manor of Twywell and belonged
to the family of Ekins certainly until 1720.** It was
the Vere manor in Great Addington (q.v.).'^
In Domesday Book, the Abbey of Peterborough held
no land in Twywell, but probably one virgate of its
holding in Slipton lay in Tw)'well,29 and in the 12th-
century survey of the county one great virgate in
Twywell is assigned to Peterborough.*' Its subse-
probably sold to the Duke of Montagu, since in 1765 quent history is lost until the close of the 14th cen-
Mary, Countess of Cardigan, was lady of the manor.*» tury, when it may possibly reappear as a manor of
• V.C.H. Northants. i, 3iqa.
' Ibid. 365a ; Dugdjle, Mon. Angl. ii,
604.
• Abhrcv. Rot. Orig. fRec. Com.), i, 141 ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. 32 Edw. I, no. 144 ; Cat.
Chan. T, 77.
• Cal. Close, 1234-7, p. 208 ; Feud. Aids,
iv, 12, 29; Dugdalc, op. cit. ii, 613.
'• Ibid. 603.
" Ibid. 604.
" Chan. Proc. (Scr. ii), 69 (33) ; Dug-
dale, op. cit. ii, 613.
'• L. and P. Hen. nil, xix (pt. i), g. 141
(75)-
'« Pat. R. 2 Eliz. pt. 13 ; 16 Elir.. pt. 8 ;
17 Elir. pt. 5 ; Chan. Inij. p.m. (Ser. ii),
dccUuz, 5S. In 1635 Francis Mulsbo died
leised of 12} virgatcs of land in Twywell,
some of which had been parcel of Lord
Parr's manor, and all were held of the
king a« of the manor of East Greenwich.
" Hist. MSS. Com. Kcp. (Salisbury
MSS.), ii, 42.
" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 34
Eliz.
" Ibid. Mich. 37 & 38 Eliz.
"Feet of F. Northants. East. 1658;
Recov. R. Mich. 7 Geo. I, ro. 127;
Bridges, //ill. Northants. ii, 262.
" Act. of Pari. 5 Geo. Ill, c. 35.
'■■ y.C.II. Northants. i, 351-2-
" Ibid. 365a.
== Dk. of Fees, i, 494 ; ii, 937'
" Ibid.
249
" Farrcr, Honors and Knights' Fees, ii
3^7, 39<^- "' V.C.H. Beds, ii, 65.
'« Dugdale, Mon. Angl. ii, 603.
" Drayton Chart, 104.
" Bk. of Fees, ii, 937 ; Feud. Aids,
iv, 12 ; Abbrev. Rot. Ong. (Rec. Com.), i,
222 ; Cal. Inq. vi, no. 517 (^the statement
here made that Robert de Vere, Earl of
Oxford, held under John de Hastings, is
probably due to a confusion of names);
ibid. no. 612 ; ix, no. 118 ; Plac. de Quo
H'arr. (Rec. Com.), 569 i ^''^'^^ °' ^■
Northants. Mil. 31 Hen. VIII; Com.
Pleas, Deeds Enr. Hil. 2 & 3 Edw. VI,
m. 8d. ; Pat. R. i •; Chas. I, pt. 10.
" V.C.H. Northants. 1,314^, 3<'5'' ("-S)-
•» Ibid. 365a.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Waldtgrave. Party ar-
gent and gules.
TJVriVELL licid before 1384 by Sir Richard Walde-
grave, knt.^' He or a later Richard made a settlement
of the manor in 1437,'- and two years later his trustees
granted it to his son Ricliard and his wife Alice and
their heirs.'-' The younger Richard died in 1453,**
but Alice held the manor until her death in I473,
when it passed to Richard's
nephew William.^ The latter
died in 1528,^ but his son
and heir George only survived
him a few months, and the
manor passed to his grandson
William,^^ who dealt with it
in 1532.^ No further men-
tion of the manor apparently
occurs. In 1453 and 1473 the
manor was said to have been
held of the Abbot of Ramsey
for the service of paying one
rose yearly,^ but in 1528 the overlord was stated to
be the Abbot of Peterborough.'"' It seems possible
that this may have been described as the manor of
Slipton, which in 1562 George Lane held and in 1564
conveyed to John Bedell, who in 1576 granted it to
Lewis Lord Mordaunt.^'
Two mills are mentioned in Domesday Book on the
manor of the Abbey of Thorney,payinga rent oijj.^d.
a year,''^ but only one mill is mentioned in a buU
of Pope .Mexander III.'" In 1330, Hugh de Walmes-
ford claimed that the \'eres had held a view of frank-
pledge in their manor time out of mind ; the royal
officials denied his right, but Hugh was able to
recover it on payment of a fine. He also successfully
claimed the right of toll of salt in his demesne lands.'*^
In 1720 Thomas Ekins had a court leet, court baron
a!id view of frankpledge in Twywell.^*
The church of ST. NICHOLAS con-
CHURCH sists of chancel 35 ft. by 14 ft. 10 in.,
with south vestry and organ chamber,
clcarstoried nave of three bays 38 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 3 in.,
south aisle 13 ft. 9 in. wide, south porch, and west
tower 8 ft. 6 in. square, all these measurements being
internal.
The church is built throughout of rubble, and has
plain parapets and flat-pitched leaded roofs to nave
and aisle and a slated eaved roof to the chancel.
Internally the walls are plastered. The building was
re-roofed in 181 1 and underwent an extensive re-
storation in 1867, wliich included the removal of a
west gallery and the rebuilding of the tower arch,
then in a ruinous condition.
The main part of the fabric, comprising the tower,
nave and the west portion of the chancel, is of the
middle of the 12th century, but there is some reason
for believing that the first church was of earlier date,
to which short north and south transeptal chapels
were added at the cast end of the nave walls about
1140-50. To this cross church the aisle was added
about fifty years later, and towards the end of the
13th century the chancel was extended eastward and
windows inserted in the aisle. The porch and clear-
story are of the 15th century. At some subsequent
period the western portion of the aisle was demo-
lished, probably in order to save the cost of repair,
and was rebuilt only in 1867.^*
The composition of the south arcade is unusual.
The broad semicircular eastern arch, which probably
marked the entrance to the former transept, is of two
plain chamfered orders and springs at the east end,
at a height of 5 ft., from a flat respond with scalloped
impost and chamfered abacus. The two western
arches are also semicircular and appear to have been
cut through the nave wall about 1 190, beginning
from the west end. The western arch springs from
a half-octagonal respond set against the old wall, and
was made narrower but much higher than the older
existing arch at the east end, the new middle arch
filling the space between. The arches are of two
chamfered orders springing at a height of about
7 ft. from octagonal piers with moulded capitals and
bases. To allow of its meeting the older eastern arch
the middle arch had to be stilted on that side, its
outer order being made to spring from the new pier,
while the inner order springs from a corbel above
the capital ; the corbel is decorated with nail-head
ornament.
The chancel has a late 13th-century east window
of three lights with intersecting tracery, and in the
south wall arc two windows of the same period with
forked mullions and a trefoiled piscina with fluted
bowl. North of the altar in the east wall is an
image-bracket. In the north wall, about 15 ft. from
the west, is a round-headed 12th century window
with wide inner splay, and further west again a
rectangular low-side window with external chamfered
opening and flat sill inside, perhaps a 14th-century
insertion.^' There was originally a sacristy on the
north side of the chancel at its east end, the blocked
pointed doorway of which remains, together with a
piscina and rectangular aumbry now on the outside
of the building. The blank wall space on the inside
is filled by a curious and highly interesting stone
structure of late 13th-century date consisting in the
lower stage of a broad segmental tomb-recess, the
arch springing from short attached shafts, above
which is a double aumbry, probably used also as an
Easter sepulchre, and above this again a sloping stone
desk with a book-rest for the reader of the Gospel.**
The south wall of the chancel is pierced at its west
end by a wide two-centred segment arch of two
chamfered orders, the inner order on moulded corbels
supported by heads. The arch is of late 13th-century
character and apparently opened originally to a chapel
afterwards destroyed ; before tlic erection of the
•' Chart. R. 7 & 8 Ric. II, 111. 13, no.
'5-
"Feet o( F. Northanti. Mich. 16 Men.
VI.
"Chan. Inc). p.m. 32 Ilcn. VI, no. 36.
» Ibid.
»» Ibid. 18 Edw. IV, no. ii.
" Ibid. (Ser. ii), jlviii, 79.
•' Ibid. 85.
"Recov. R. Trin. 24 Hen. VIII, ro.
123.
'" Chan. Inq. p.m. 32 Ilcn. VI, no. 36;
18 F.dw. IV, no 22.
"Ibid. (.Scr. ii), xlviii, 79, 85.
" Recov. R, nil. 1562, ro. 340; Feet
of V. Nortli.mts. Mil. 7 Elii. ; Cal.Ftnf,
Eait. 18 Eli7..
" y.C.II. Norihanti. i, 31911.
" Dllgdale, Mon. Anej. ii, 604.
" riar. it Quo H'urr. (Rec. Com.), 569.
*' Recov. R. Mich. 7 Geo. I, ro. 127.
" Norlbampl. Mercury, 2 Nov. 1867,
250
where an .iccount of the rcttorntion i«
given. The church was reopened 30
October.
*' It i> 3 ft. 8 in. high by 12 in. wide,
and 2 ft. 6 in. above the ground outside.
An'JC. Arch. Soe. Rrps. jxii, 4<;i.
*" The lower stage, or tomb recess, is
6 ft. lo in. wide by 3 ft. 3 in. high ; the
structure above in 4 ft. 4 in. wide and
4 ft. high to the top of the slope of the
deik.
TwYvvhLL Church from Tiit Sou in
TwYWhLL Church : Kaster Sipulchrk
HUXLOE HUNDRED
•IWYVVELL
organ chamber and vestry in 1)595 '' ''-'J '""K been
blocked. The chancel arch is apparently of the same
period and consists of two chamfered orders, the
inner springing from half-octagonal responds with
moulded capitals and bases.
The north wall of the nave retains near its west end
a widely splayed round-headed 12th-century window
and a contemporary doorway, now blocked, which
externally has a shouldered head with cabled lintel
and roundel cusps, hatched tympanum, and sunk-
star hood mould. The round arch to the northern
transcptal chapel has long been blocked, and now
contains a two-light window
with forked mullion, the
tracery of which, however,
is modern.'" When the arch
was made there was an earlier
round-headed window high
in the wall, part of the head
of which is still visible with
a course of herring-bone
work to the east of it.
At the west end of the
aisle is a small restored
12th-century window with
modern round head, and in
the south wall two late
13th-century windows with
forked muUions. A three-
light window with intersect-
ing tracery in the east wall
now opens on to the vestry,
to which a doorway has been
cut through the middle light.
The 12th-century soutli doorway has a semi-circular
arch of two orders, the inner with a continuous
round moulding, the outer with cheverons on nook-
shafts with capitals of very conventional foliage and
moulded bases. The middle cheveron, or keystone, is
carved with a head on the upper part, and the hood
has a billet and indented moulding. On the east
side of the doorway inside is a stoup with projecting
moulded bowl.
The porch is of local type, with stone bench tables,
diagonal buttresses and outer doorway of two moulded
orders, the inner on h.nlf-round responds with moulded
capitals and high bases : the roof is covered with red
tiles. The 15th-century clearstory windows are
square-headed and of two lights.
The tower is of three slightly receding stages, and
seems to be of 12th-century date to the corbel table,
though the large two-light bell-chamber windows are
probably c. 1 190, and contemporary with the nave
arcade. The west window is a single round-headed
opening, but the north and south sides are blank in
the lower stage. In the middle stage the head of a
14th century window is inserted on the south side,
and the string between this and the upper story
has a species of large nail-head moulding. The bell-
chamber windows are of two lights under semi-
circular arches, but their heads have been cither
blocked, or, as on the north side, opened out with early
Perpendicular tracery. Above the windows is a
corbel tabic of grotesque masks and notch heads, and
over tliis again a b.md of quatrcfnils and I5tli-century
battlementcd parapet with angle pinnacles. The tower
is without buttresses and there is no vice.
The font consists of a plain unmounted octagonal
bowl of late 12th or early 13th century date, on
a circular moulded plinth, and has a good flat
Jacobean wood cover with central post and curved
side pieces.
The pulpit and fittings are modern. The present
chancel roof dates from 1867, and the stalls were
erected in 1898 to commemorate the work of the Rev.
Horace Waller (rector 1874-95), one of the original
2 Centurv
□ cII90
cl290
S 1 51iJ Century
CZl Modern
Scale ofPeet
Plan of Twywell Church
members of the Universities' Mission to Central
Africa : thev are characteristically carved to represent
his labours in that region. Set within tlie rercdos are
three small stones from Calvary given to Mr. Waller
by General Gordon in 1880.
In the chancel floor are the grave slabs of Thomas
Ekins, gent. (d. 1713), and of Dorothy Ekins (d. 1720),
daughter of Arthur Brooke of Great Oakley.
In the top light of one of the aisle windows is the
shield of England (l and 4 France, 2 and 3 England)
with a label of five points.
On the jambs of the south doorway, now within
the porch, are eight scratch dials — four on each
side.
There arc five bells, the first and second by J.
Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, 1907, and the
third a recasting by Taylor in 1867. The fourth
and fifth are 15th-century bells cast in London, the
former inscribed ' In multis annis resonet Campana
Johannis,' and the tenor '\'ox Augustini sonet in aure
Deo.'™
The plate consists of a cup of c. 1570, a flagon
of 1887, and a modern plated cup, paten and
bread-holder. There are also a pewter flagon and
plate."
The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i)
baptisms 1586-1667, marriages and burials 1577-1667;
(ii) baptisms, marriages and burials 1668-1754 ;
(iii) baptisms and burials 1755-1812; (iv) marriages
1755-1812.
" The window may have btcn originally Both the old belli have one of the
at the end of the transept. floriated croisei introduced by John Wal-
'° North, Cb. Belli of Norihanls. 423. grave (1418-40), and the tenor hat alio
251
Walgrave'j trade mark. The fourth bears
the mark of Robert Crowch (i43i)-5o).
" Markham, Ch. Plate oJNorthanti. lU.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
The advovvson of the church of
JDI'Oll'SOy Twyvvell was held hy the Abbey of
Thorncy '- and afterwards passed
with the manor to Robert Dallyson,*' w-ho sold it to
John Richardson, clerk, in 1592." In 1628,^ the
archdeacon of Northampton and John Gage presented,
and in 1637^* William Gardner, the vicar of Slipton,
possibly as trustee, as the advowson seems in the
same year to have passed to Nicholas Richardson."
In 1660 it was in the possession of Agnes Webb,
widow, who seems to have sold it in 1664.** Presen-
tations were made in 1665 by Edward Trott, clerk, in
1668 by the Earl of Exeter, in 1705 by Thomas
Ekins, and in 1737 by William Smith, who presented
William Scriven, who was patron and rector in 1765.^'
In 1769 John Scriven was patron and incumbent,^
and in 1793 Elizabeth Scriven, spinster, probably
his daughter, presented to the benefice.*'- In 1794
Henry Leete and William York appear,*- but in 1795
Elizabeth Scriven, together with Benjamin White-
house and his wife Ann, sold it to John \\ illiamson.*^
In 1799 the latter presented tlie Rev. William Aling-
ton,** who had married his daughter Sarah. The
advowson passed to Rev. John Alington, son of
William and Sarah, who died in 1863. His son William
died in 1874''* and was succeeded by his brother
Julius, whose son, Mr. Charles Alington, is the present
owner.** A pension of 20/. was payable from the
rectory to the Abbey of Thorney in 1291*' and was
recorded among its possessions at the Dissolution.**
It Was granted by Henry VIII to Lord Parr*' and
was sold with the advowson by Robert Dallyson in
1592.™
Thomas Ekins by will dated
CHARITIES 26 May 1709 gave 20s. yearly to
trustees out of his house and close
in Twywell to the poor. This rent-charge is now paid
by the Islip Iron Co., Ltd.
John Harris in 1753 gave ^^lo to the poor. A piece
of land in Ringstead now let for ^^l 4.1. yearly was
purchased with this gift.
The Charity of Thomas Archer founded by will
dated I Dec. 1829 is now represented by a sum of
£36 14J. id. Consols producing i8.f. 4d. yearly in
dividends.
The income from these three charities is distributed
by the rector and churchwardens in bread to about
12 recipients.
The Bell Rope Charity. A sum of %s. is payable to
the churchwardens by an Inclosure Award out of a
piece of land in Twywell. The payment was awarded
in lieu of land formerly appropriated to the use of the
church, and the money is carried to churcii expenses
account.
WARKTON
Werchinetone (xi cent.) ; Werketon (xii cent.) ;
Werkenetone (xiii cent.) ; Warkyngton (xvi cent.) ;
Wotton (xvii cent.).
Warkton parish, covering an area of 1,921 acres,
rises from the eastern bank of the River Ise to a hciglit
of 338 ft. above ordnance datum. Tiic soil is of
limestone, clay and red loam, and is, and in mcdia-val
time was, for the greater part under pasture. The
village stands on the brow of a hill and from it fine
avenues of trees run in the direction of Weekley and
Grafton Underwood. These avenues the parish owes
to John, Duke of Montagu, known as Duke John the
Planter, from the miles of sucli avenues he planted
in this and adjoining parishes. Buried beneath the
road at the east end of the bridge over the Ise, is a
medieval arch (? 14th century) wliichoriginally crossed
the stream, the old course of which can still be seen
in the field to the south of the road.
The church lies in the centre of the village, and
the houses are grouped for the most part in its
vicinity. Opposite the church, on the other side of
the main road, is the rectory, which was built by the
Duke of Buccleuch in the middle of the 19th century
to replace the old thatched rectory house then pulled
down, which occupied a lower and less favourable
position. In 1922 the ecclesiastical parish of Warkton
was united to that of Weekley under the name of
Warkton-cum-Weekley. The incumbent of the
united benefices resides at Weekley, and the rectory
house at Warkton with part of the glebe was in the
same year sold to Mr. Charles Edward Lamb, who
has since occupied the house. To the north of
the church is the school built in 1S67 by the Duke
of Buccleuch. Even in this somewhat remote
spot the effects of the Civil War were being felt
in 1643. Nicholas Estwick, rector of Warkton, in a
letter to Edward Montagu prays that peace may
come, adding ' We do already taste the miseries of
Civil War.'i
Bridges writes of a close with a petrifying spring,
where a petrified human skull was found, and of two
quarries of excellent stone. In the west of the parish
is a long and deep trench. Just over the southern
boundary is Warkton Spinney, and in the south is
Warkton Lodge, while Cinquefoil Lodge is in the east.
The population in 1921 was 192.
An Inclosure Act was passed in 1807, and an award
made in 1810, when an allotment was made for tithes.
The common and open fields in the parish and manor
were then about 1,300 acres in extent. The glebe
lands were 34 acres ; the inclosed glebe land, including
the churchyard, was 3 acres in extent.^
" Rm. Rob. Groiieleile (Cant, and VotV
Soc), 182 ; Cal. I'al. 1301-7, p. 381.
"Pat. R. 17 Ellz. pt. 5 ; Iict o( F.
Northanti. Mich. 34 & 35 Elii.
" Ibid.
" Initil. Bit. (P.R.O.).
M Ibid.
*' Rccov. U. llil. 13 Cbai. I, ro. 6.
" Iniiil. nkt. (P.K.O.), 1660, Ififii ;
Rfcov. R. Eail. 16 t'hai. II, ro. 37.
" Inilit. Ilki. (P.R.O.); U.icon, Litirr
Rfgii, 828.
•" Inilit. Bin. (P.R.O.).
•' Ibid.
•» Ibid.
"" Feet o( F. North.mti. Mich. 35
Geo III.
" Initit. Bk.. (P.R.O.).
"* llurke, LanJrJ Grnlry, 1925.
" Imp from ihr Riv. I'. 11. \,-M\f,.
" Pope Nich. Tax. (Rcc. Com.), 39b.
•" I'ulor litdn. (Rec. Com.), iv, 291.
" I., and 1: Hen. VIll, xix, pt. i, g. 141
(75)-
'» Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 34 & 35
VXtr.
< lliu. MSS. Com. Rep. (Lord Montagu
of Hc-au)icn), 160.
■ Priv. Slat. 47 Geo. Ill, Sees. II,
cap. (>.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
WARKTON
Bury St. Edmunds
AliDKV. Azure ibrrf
crotvus each surrounding
a pair of crossed arroivs
all or.
Before the Conqiicu lf'.-IRKTO.\' was
M.^NOR the property of i'Elgifu, wife of Earl
iElfgjr and mother of Karl Morcar. It
was given to the abbey of Bury St. Edmund by Queen
Maud, wife of the Conqueror,* and continued to be
held with other possessions of .Elfgar which the abbey
acquired in Scaldwell, Boughton and East Earndon.*
In the Domosday Survey it was
entered in Navisland hundred
among the lands of St. Ed-
mund, held by tiie abbot him-
self of the king, and it had
risen in value from £y to £S.
There were 3 J hides there, a
mill and woodlands 3 furlongs
in length and 2 in breadth.'
In the 12th century North-
amptonshire Survey 4 hides
in Warkton were entered in
Northnavisland as held of the
fee of St. Edmund.* At the
end of the 12th century the
abbot of St. Edmundsbury conveyed the manor to
Ernald de Herlaw, who in 1 201 reconveved it to
Samson abbot of St. Edmundsbury for 60 marks,
giving an undertaking to burn the charter made to
liim by the abbot.'
The soke of Warkton comprised the lands of the
abbot of St. Edmundsbury in the district, perhaps
those which had been held by ^^Llfgar. It was divided
into the In-Soke and the Foreign-Soke. The In-Soke
included Warkton, Boughton and Geddington, and
the Forcign-Soke Scaldwell, Houghton next Scaldwell
(Hanging Houghton), Lamport, Kilmarsh and Maid-
well, Clipston, Braybrook, Ugthorp, East Farndon
and .Arthingworth.* All the tenants owed suit at the
abbot's court of Warkton, but the tenants of the
In-Soke paid a rent and had many services to perform,
particularly when the abbot visited the manor.
The tenants of the Foreign Soke mostly paid a rent
for all services.* The abbot had his hall here as
early as the 12th century, at which his steward lived,
and here the abbot had a miraculous preservation from
lire in Ii86.>»
In the early part of the 13th century a dispute arose
between the abbot of Peterborough and the abbot of
St. Edmundsbury regarding the manor of Warkton,
wliich the former claimed to be within his seven hun-
dreds. It was agreed that the bailiff of the seven
hundreds should have supervision of the view of
frankpledge and St. Edmundsbury should pay a marl:
yearly for quittance of all claims by Peterborough. '^
There were courts and halimotes at Warkton. The
native tenants had to pay the usual fines for marrying
their daughters or for their sons frequenting the schools
and also for Icyrwite. The abbot of St. Edmundsbury
was quit of reg.ird of the forest by charter of II71,
confirmed at later dates. '^ There seems to have been
a flourishing community of tradesmen in the 13th
century at Warkton. We have mention of William
the Carpenter, who paid a capon for his shop ;
Richard de Pit for two salt pans, three capons ;
Richard the Smith for his smithy, two capons ;
Robert le Iremongcr izd; Richard at the Bridge over
the Ise, 61/. ; and John Confort who held a messuage
near the Cross."
Warkton was included in a list of manors appro-
priated to the cellarers of the abbey for which cus-
todians were appointed in 1215.'*
In 1284 the abbot of St. Edmund held Warkton in
pure alms of the king in chief,*' and in 1 291 he received
from it the considerable sum of ^^22 15J. 5{(^.** The
abbot was having difhculties with his tenants about
rights of common and other matters early in the
14th century, and possibly as a result of these disputes
he leased the manor, excepting the advowson of the
church and view of frankpledge, in 1312 to the homage
of the court of Warkton for 12 years at a rent of
£&o a year.*'" The abbot obtained a grant of free
warren in 1330*' and proved his claim to view of
frankpledge and weyf in the Manor** from time
immemorial.
In 1414 William Cratefeld, abbot of St. Edmunds-
bury, leased the manor for ten years to Thomas, Earl
of Dorchester, at a rent of ^25 a year,andin 1417 the
Earl, who had been created Duke of Exeter, wrote
complaining that the abbot had arrested his farmer
of the lands for arrears of rent due from him.'*
The abbey of Bury St. Edmunds continued to hold
the manor until the Dissolution, when in 1535 it
was in lease to Thomas Lane for a rent of ^^32.
On 20 March 1541, the manor and advowson of the
rectory of Warkton, together with its soke, as part of
the late possessions of the abbey, with all the lands of
the abbey in Warkton, were granted for life to Sir
Edward Montagu, Chief Justice of the King's Bench,"*
to whom on surrender of this patent a fresh grant was
made in fee on l8 March 1542.^* Lands in Warkton
were granted with tlie manors of Holwell, Brlxworth,
Lamport, Hanging Houghton, etc., by Robert
Burdon of Hanging Houghton and his wife Joan, and
Robert Burdon, junior, to Sir Edward Montagu in
1541.21^
The manor seems to have been settled on Ellen
the third wife of Sir Edward Montagu, Lord Chief
Justice, who in 1557 leased it to her son Edward.^""
It descended to Sir Walter Montagu, kt., younger son
of Sir Edward Montagu and grandson of the Lord
Chief Justice, who in 1604 settled it on his second
wife Ann. He died without issue in 1616, his wife
Ann surviving him, and his heir being his brother,
Sir Edward Montagu,^^ created Lord Montagu of
• Memorials of S. Edmund's Abbey (Rolls
Ser.),Ui, 4.
• V.C.II. fforibanti. i, 285, 318.
•Ibid, i, 318. • Ibid. 389A.
' Bucclcuch MSS. Warkton Bk. pp. 1,4.
• Ibid. 21 et scq. In one list ' Lulcham,'
poisibly Lolham in Maxcy parish, is
added. A dispute as to reliefs payable in
the soke arose in 164S ; Excheq. Dcponi.
Trin. 24 Chas. I, no. 1.
• Ibid. 21.
" Ibid. 5, 7 ; Mem. of St. Edmund't
Abb. (Rolls Scr.), i, 268 j ii, 125 ; iii, 22.
" Bucclcuch MSS. Warkton Bk. 8 ; Reg.
Robt. Swaffham, cxlv, 5d. ; cf. Lansd.
MS. 1029, 21 lb.
" Bucclcuch MSS. op. cit. 34 ; Chart.
R. 17 John, m. 7; Cal. Close, 1227-31, p. 41;
1247-51, p. 281. " Ibid. 42.
'« Chart. R. 17 John, m. 7.
'' Feud. Aids, iv, 12.
" Po/ie Nicb. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 54*.
"•Bucdeuch MSS. Warkton Bk.
pp. 6, 10.
" Chart. R. 4 Edw. Ill, ni. 18, no. 43;
Cal. Chart. 1327-41, p. 189.
" Plac. de Quo ll'arr. (Rcc. Com.),
560.
'» Bucdeuch MSS. Warkton Bk. p. 33.
•0 L. and P. Ilcn. VIII, xvi, g. C78 (56) ;
Pat. R. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. 6, m. 5.
" L. and P. Hen. VIII, xvii, g. 220
(63); Pat. R. 33Hen. VIII,pt. 7.
»!• Com. Pleas, D. Enr. Mich. 32 Hen.
VIII, m. 7d.
"b U,st. MSS. Com. Rep. (Lord Montagu
of Beaulieu), 6.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccclxv,
'54-
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Scott, Duke of Buc-
clcuch. Ot a bend azure
charged with a motet of
six points betu^een ttoo
crescents or.
Boughton in 1621. His grandson Ralph was created
Duke of Montagu in 1 705, and his son, the second Duke,
died in 1749, leaving two daughters, Isabel and Mary.
W'arkton went to the latter, who married George
Brudenell, who was created Duke of Montagu in
1766, with special remainder to his grandson Henry
James Scott, son of Henry
Scott, Duke of Buccleuch, and
Elizabeth, daughter of the first
Duke of Montagu. He suc-
ceeded as Duke of Buccleuch
in 1812 and the manor has
descended with the dukedom
to the present day.^^
The church of
CHURCH ST. ED.MUND
consists of chan-
cel 36 ft. 8 in. by 18 ft. 6 in.,
clearstoried nave 35 ft. 8 in. by
14 ft. 9 in., north and south
aisles 15 ft. wide, south porch,
and west tower II ft. square, all these measurements
being internal. The width across nave and aisles is
51 ft. 6in.
The nave arcades are of two bays : they appear to
have been originally of the latter part of the 12th
century, but have been very much restored. The two
semicircular arches on each side are of a single square
order and spring from a cylindrical pier with moulded
base and square abacus, and from plain imposts at
either end : the eastern respond on the north side
has a roll moulding at the angles, but the others are
square. The arches, however, in their present form
m.iy date only from the 1 8th century, at the lime of
the rebuilding of the chancel. In Bridges' time the
old chancel was standing : it had buttresses at the
east end and ' four stone seats' in the south wall near
the altar." On the north side the first Duke of
Montagu, who died in 1709, had built a 'place of
sepulture for himself and family,'^^ and some forty
years later, after the death of the second duke in
1749, the cliancel was entirely rebuilt in the style of
the day. It has four large recesses for monuments,
two on each side, and a wide round-headed east
window : externally it is faced with ashlar, and has a
high parapet and a pediment at the east end. The
burial place is entered from the east end of the north
aisle, and covers the cliancel about half its lengtli.
The aisles were rebuilt and the clearstory added in
the 14th century, but were completely restored in
1867-8. They have plain parapets and leaded roofs,
but all the aisle windows arc modern, and those of the
clearstory, which are square-headed and of two trefoiled
lights, extensively renewed. The moulded south
doorway, however, is original, and a buttress with
triangular head remains at the north-west angle.
In the south aisle is a 14th-century piscina with
fluted bowl. The pointed chancel arch dates from
1867. In 1872 a vestry was added at the cast end of
the south aisle, partly covering the chancel. The
15th-century porch has been rebuilt : it has plain
parapets, leaded roof and outer moulded doorway
with hood.
The tower was built in the middle of the I5ih
century, and is of four stages, with broad angle
buttress of square section and vertical outline, and a
vice in the south-west angle. At the foot of the
buttresses above the plinth is a band of quatrefoils,
as at Kettering, and another band above the west
doorway. The doorway has continuous mouldings,
and is set within a rectangular frame with traceried
spandrels : over it is a three-light pointed window
with embattled transom. The three lower stages
are blank on the north and south sides, but in the third
stage facing west is a square-headed loop, and on the
east a doorway formerly opening on to the nave roof.
The bell-chamber windows are of two-lights with
embattled transom and a quatrefoil in the head, and
the tower finishes with a band of quatrefoils and
battlemented parapet with tall angle pu.nacles. The
height to the top of the pinnacles is 70 ft. The
arch to the nave is of three chamfered orders, the
inner springing from half-round responds.
The font consists of a shallow octagonal bowl
shaped from the square, set on a modern stem.
I'he monuments in the chancel are of more than
local interest, and of their kind are fine examples of
the sculptural art of the period. In the western
recess of the north wall is that of John, 2nd Duke of
Montagu (d. 1749), by Roubiliac, with an allegorical
group of Charity and her nurslings exhibiting a
medallion of the duke to the mourning duchess. Op-
posite, in the south wall, is a group of the three Fates,
also by Roubiliac, commemorating the duke's widow
Mary Churchill (d. 1751), fourth daughter of the first
Duke of Marlborough. The second monument on the
north side is to the memory of Mary, Duchess of
Montagu (d. 1775), youngest daughter and co-heir
of the second duke, and takes the form of an allegorical
group within an architectural setting designed by
Robert Adam, the sculpture executed by Peter
Matthias Van Gclder. It was erected by her husband
George, Duke of Montagu and 4th Earl of Cardigan,
who survived her 15 years, dying in 1790, when the
dukedom became extinct. The remaining recess on
the south side is filled by a seated statue, by Thomas
Campbell, of Elizabeth Montagu, widow of Henry,
3rd Duke of Buccleuch, who died 1827, erected by her
grandson Walter Francis, 5lh Duke of Buccleuch.
At the cast end of the south arcade, below the arch,
is a wall monument, with shield of arms and rhyming
inscription, to Thomas Johnson, 1657.^*
There are five bells, the first and second by J.
Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, 1887 ; the third by
T. and J. K.ayre, of Kettering, 1718; the fourth by
Thomas Eayre, 1761, and the tenor by Hugh Watts II,
of Leicester, 1638.'''
The plate consists of a paten without marks
inscribed ' Given to the parish of Warckton, Nortliton-
shcir An. dom. 1683,' and a modern medixval cup
and paten of 1868, given in 1876. There are also a
pewter Hagon and breadholder.^*
" Rccov. R. Trin. 9 Chai. I, ro. 40;
Mil. 3 Anne, ro. 223 ; Eait. 33 Gen. II, ro.
1I2 ; 8 Geo. Ill, ro. ijc) ; Feel of F. Div.
Cot Trin. i) Clian. I ; Mich. 1O58 ;
Nortlianlt. EaU. 33 Geo. II j 16 Geo. Ill ;
Priv. Slat. 47 Geo. Ill (Sen. II, cap. 6) ;
G.E.C. Complete Peerage (Montagu of
Boughton).
•* llriJgr'R, //ii/. Nerthatits. ii, 264.
"■ IM.I. 263.
'" The iiiHcription it given in Hii(If,'rs,
op. cil. ii, 264.
" North, Ch. ItfUt of Sorthanls. 42S,
whore thr itiBcrlptions nii the old belli
air given. Thrir wrri- fiMir lu-IUin 1700.
'** Markham, Ch. Vluf of Nortbanti.
Z97. In 1K43 there were also an Elixa-
bethan cup and cover paten.
W =o
s"
\.
^^,5^' 4^
a: :j
HUXLOE HUNDRED
WOODFORD
The registers before 1812 are as follows : (i)
baptisms and burials 1559-174.1, marriages 1559-1740;
(ii) baptisms 1742-1812, marriages 1742-1756, burials
174I-1812; (iii) marriages 1756-1812. The church-
wardens' accounts begin in 1769.
The church was held with the
ADfOlf'SOX manor by the abbey of Bury St.
Edmunds, and appears before 1191
in a list of churches of manors belonging to the
abbey as worth 10 marks yearly.-*
In 1291 it was valued at ^^ll 61. SJ. yearly." At
the Dissolution, the profits of the rectory, then leased
to I.eo Kyng, were/[l9 6/. 8</. yearly."
The advowson has always been held with the
manor, and the Duke of Buccleuch is the present
patron.
Edw.ird Hunt, by his will proved
CHARITIES at Northampton 7 Dec. 1674, 8^^'^'
land in the parish of Broughton for
the benefit of the poor of certain parishes. The land,
which consisted of a farm of 64 acres, was sold in 1921
and the proceeds invested in stock with the OfHcial
Trustees of Charitable Funds. The stock has now
been apportioned in the OlTui.d Trustees' books be-
tween the parishcsintcrestcd and the sumsof £19 \s.\d.
Derby Corporation 6 per cent. Redeemable Stock and
£19 %s. id. Middlesbrough Corporation 6 per cent.
Stock, producing together £2 6s. ^d. yearly, represent
the endowment of the ciiarity for this parish. The
income is distributed in money by the minister,
cliurchwardcns and overseers to about 12 poor.
The Cliurcli Land consists of 5 a. 3 r. of pasture l.ind
which has long been appropriated to the church. It is
let for £S 15;. yearly, which is expended by the
churchwardens in church expenses.
By a Deed of Trust dated 28 Dec. 1922, Mrs.
Elizabeth Panther established a charity comprising
a sum of ^^178 OS. Sd. 2^ per cent. Consols vested in
the Peterborough Diocesan Board of Finance. The
income is applicable by the rector and church-
wardens for the maintenance of the Sunday school,
and, subject thereto, for the mainten.ince of the
fabric of the church.
The parishes of Wcckley and Warkton participate
in the Lathom and Bigley Edu' ational Foundation
(Ringstead) Endowment.
WOODFORD
Wodeford (xi, xii, xiv cent.) ; Wudeford (xiii cent.) ;
Woodforde (xvi cent.).
The parish of Woodford contains 2,264 ^c<^s of
land, which lies under 300 ft. above the ordnance
datum. The sub-soil is Upper Lias, Great Oolite and
Cornbrash. The river Nene forms tl;e eastern
boundary of the parish and the village lies on the slope
of the hill rising from the river along the by-ro.id from
Irthlingborough. Tlie church stands on tlic east of
the road near the river. The rectory house was built
in I S20 ; some portions of the medieval rectory remain
in a farm house immediately north of the church and
include three buttresses and a late 13th century
pointed doorway. A two-story thatched cottage in
the Old Town to the north-west of the church has a
panel inscribed ' F.B. 1687,' and on the west side of
the Green in the upper part of the village is a gabled
house dated 1654. The upper part of the village is
known as New Town. The Northampton and
Peterborough branch of the London Midland and
Scottish Railway crosses the parish for a short distance,
but the nearest station is at Twywell on the Kettering
and Huntingdon branch. There were formerly
brickworks near the village and in 1874 the large beds
of ironstone in the parish were extensively worked.^
John Cole, the bookseller and antiquary, lived at
Woodford at the end of his life and died there in 1848.
Continually unsuccessful both as a bookseller and
schoolmaster, his real interests lay in antiquarian
pursuits and natural history. He published many
books on local history and also left manuscript collec-
tions for the history of many places in Northampton-
shire.^ The parish was inclosed by private Act of
Parliament in 1768.^
The manor of WOODFORD at the
MANORS time of the Domesday Survey, and
probably in pre-Conquest times, be-
longed to the fee of Peterborough Abbey,* which
remained the overlord of the manor till the dissolu-
tion of the abbey,* the last mention of the overlordship
being in 1515.*
In 1086, Roger held 7 hides of the abbey and he,
Hugh and Siward held a further 3 virgates.' He may
be identified with Roger Maufe, the first knight
enfeoffed by the abbey at Woodford.'* In the North-
amptonshire Survey no under-tenant is mentioned
and more land is assigned to the abbey, so that
Roger's holding was presumably included in a holding
of 8 hides and J a virgate belonging to the fee of Peter-
borough, while the J hide held by William dc Houton
and the J virgate held by Reginald de la Bataille
represented part of the holding of 3 virgates.* A
Guy Maufe in the same survey held land at Heming-
ton ' which was part of the Maufe fee, and he may have
been Roger's successor at Woodford. He certainly
granted land there to the abbey, as the grant was
confirmed by Henry I in a charter of 1 1 14. Guy was
living in 1117,*" but the tenant in 1 125-8 was another
Roger Maufe, whose holding had been reduced to
5 hides and 3 virgates, together \\'ith the soke of
3 hides of land of which Gislebert, son of Richard,
was the tenant. His Northamptonshire lands were
•• Mtm. 0} St. Edmund'i Abb. (Rolli
S«r.), i, 267-8.
" Op. cit. (Rec. Com.), 40 b.
" Valor Ecctti. (Rec. Com.), iv, 311.
' Whelljn, WiK. of Norihanls. 1874.
• Did. Nal. Biof.
• Act of Pjrit. 3 Ceo. Ill, c. 8 ; RecoT.
R. Trin. 6 Geo. Ill, ro. 275 (deedi and
writings).
« y.C.lI. Northams. i, 317*.
' Cbron. Pelrob. (Camden Soc), p. 23 j
Feud. Aids, iv, 12; Cott. MS. (B.M.)
Clcop. C i, fol. 146 ; Cal. Inq. Hen. VI I, i,
no. 297.
• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xxi, 117.
' V.C.H. Nortbanis. i, 317a.
'a Cbron. Pelrob. (Camden Soc), 173'r.
' V.C.H. Nortbanis. 3886. In the notes
to the survey these two holdings are said
to represent the i hide and i virgate held
of the Bishop of Coutances in io^6 by
one Ralph. The i^ hides assigned to
Guy Trailly may, however, represent the
Coutance lands, and are mistakenly
assigned to the abbey. * Ibid. 366-7.
»" Pytchley, Bk. of Fees (Northants.
Rec. Soc), ()0n.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
in Woodford and Kingstliorpe and probably Heming-
ton, held by the service of two knights' fees and
castle guard at Rockingham. ^^ Roger was succeeded
by Guy Maufe, who, with his wife Adeliza, gave a
portion of his tithes to Peterborough in 1 141. *'*
Simon IMaufe was holding the two fees in 1 179 and
I ! 89.^ Before 1 196 Lucas Maufe had succeeded him*'
and in 1211-12 William Maufe appears. l'' William
died before 1224, when his heir Oliver was a minor.
He was succeeded by Robert Maufe, who held the two
fees but granted the abbot of Thorney certain lands
in Kingsthorpe.l^ Robert died before 1254, leaving
four daughters as his heirs, amongst whom his fees
were divided. *' In a lawsuit of 1346, John de Wood-
ford is said to have been the last tenant of the un-
divided manor and to have left two daughters and
heirs. Presumably John is a mistake for Robert, while
the other daughters are not mentioned in 1 346, as their
families no longer had any interest in the Woodford
manor.l' There seems no doubt that the eldest
daughter married Thomas Deyville." Alice married
John de Bois, and Joan married, but the name of her
husband does not appear.*' The fourth daughter
married Roger de Kirkton*'" but does not seem to have
had any share in Woodford. Another Thomas Deyville
did homage for his lands there in 1275,-" but ten years
later John de Bois and his wife bought the Deyville's
share in Woodford and so came into possession of
half the manor,-' which was held as a half and a
quarter of a knight's fee.-^
Their holding was known as t'ne manor of
WOODFORD, PIELL'S or FAUX. John de Bois
did homage for it in 1289. Roger de Bois was
holding in 1316 and did homage in 1322, and
John de Bois was tenant in 1346.-' In 1369 Sir
Roger de Bois, knt., sold it to John Pyel of London,^''
who died before 1385, when his executors assigned a
rent of 50 marks to his widow, but his lieir is not
mentioned."^ The manor, however, came to Nicholas
Pyel, who before 1 394 made a settlement of the manor
on Roger Lichefeld and others in anticipation of his
marriage with Elizabeth Gorge, sister of Roger
Lichefeld.2' Whether the marriage took place docs
not appear, but the terms of the settlement were not
carried out, and Nicholas died seised of it about
1402.-' lie is said to have been poisoned, but tlie
Register of Abbot Genge of Peterborough gives two
different accounts of the descent of the manor.
In one, Nicholas is said to have died without
heir and except for the life interest of an un-
named tenant (probably Nicholas's widow) it
had escheated to the abbey. In the other,
John, son of Nicholas, was said in 1406 to be a minor
in the abbot's custody.^ The manor, however,
seems to have passed before 1417"' to an Elizabeth
Pyel, probably a daughter or sister of John P)cl and
the wife of Sir William Huddlestone.'" In 1426
it had passed to William Braunspath and his wife
Elizabeth, in her right.'* She presumably was the
widow of Huddlestone and was living in 1445.'^
Before 145 1, her son Henry Huddlestone had suc-
ceeded her'' and died seised before 1488, when his
heir was his daughter Elizabeth, the wife of Sir
Thomas Cheyney.** In 1514, the manor passed to
their daughter Elizabeth, a minor, who afterwards
married Thomas Vaux, the first Lord V^aux of Harrow-
den.*'' Their son William in 1585 granted a rent of
£10 per annum out of the manor to Joan, the wife of
William Goddard." He sold the manor, however,
in 1592, to Simon Mallory," whose son, Simon, sold
it in 162 1 to Sir Rowland St. John,'* the younger son
of the third Baron St. John of
Bletso. His son Oliver was
created a baronet and his
descendants owned the manor
until the early 19th century,"
when it was sold, probably by
Henry, the 12th Baron St.
John, to the Duke of Dorset.^"
On the death of the last duke
in 1843, it passed to liis niece
Mrs. Stopford Sackville,""* and
is now the property of Mr.
Nigel v. Stopford Sackvillc.
Joan, presumably the third
of the Maufe heiresses, left two daughters between
whom her share of Woodford manor was divided on her
death about 1275.''^ In that year, Richard Trailly, hus-
band of her eldest daughter Alice, did homage to the
Abbot of Peterborough.'" Their lands were afterwards
[^^
St. John.
chief gutes
Argent a
with two
motets or ibercin.
" Chron. Petrol. (Camden Soc), p. 173 ;
Pytchliy, loc. cit. ; S. Guntnn, Hiit.
Peterborough^ 131 ; Sparke, Hut. Angl.
Script Var. 59;Egcrion MS. (B.M.), 2733.
"• Pytchlcy, loc. cit.
" Ibid ; Cat. Chart. 1226-57, 20.
"Cat. Curta Reg. i, 27; Cott. MS.
Vcsp. E xxii, fol. 100.
■' Red Bk. ofExcheq. (Roll. Scr.), 6iq.
'* Pytchley, loc. cit. quoting the I.ibcr
Niger of Peterborough .ind Hugh C.Tn-
didui.
" Rot. Robt. Groiieleile (Cant, and York
Soc), 225 ; Cott. MS. (U.M.) Clcop. C i,
(ol. 146 ; Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, fol. 248 d.
" De Banco R. no. 395, m. 270.
" Soc. Antiq. MS. 60, fol. 24S d ; F.gcr-
tonMS. (B.M.) 2733, fol 148.
'• De Banco R. no. 395, m. 270 ; Feet
of F. Norlhanti. Mil. 36 Hen. III.
"• I'ylchley Dk. of Feet, p. 1 57. Here
the fourth daughter of Robert de Maufe
(by mistake cillcd Vcre) is laid to have
married Roger de Kirkton ; Rot. Ilunj.
(Rcc. Com.), ii, 7.
" Chron. Pttrob. 23.
" Feel til F. Norlhanti. 12 Edw. I, cue
174, file 53, no. 113; ibid. Mich. 13
Edw. I i Cott. MS. Clcop. C. i, fol. 146.
" Cott. MS. Vcjp. E xxi, fol. 78.
*' Pytchley lik. of fees, 60 n ; Feud.
Aids,\t, 12, 29 ; Chron. Petrol. 144 ; Cott.
MS. Vcsp. E xxii, fols. 47 d, 88 d. The
lands of Nicholas dc Bois of Woodford,
deed, were taken into the King's hands in
1307 [Cal. Fine, ii, 3) ; Cott. MS. Clcop.
C i, fol. 146.
" Cal. Close. 1 369-74, p. 68.
"Ibid. i38i;-89, p. 143.
" Add. MS. (B.M.) 252S8 fols. 8 b, 44d •,
Bridges, Hist. Northants. ii, p. 267, cit.
Episc. Reg.
" Add. MS. (B.M.) 252S8, fol.. 10,
44d.
•" Ibid. ; fols. 10, 44 d.
" Bridget, op. cit. 268 ; cf. Irthling-
borough.
'° Bridges, loc. cil ; Early Chan. Proc.
bdle. 587, no. 40.
" Feet of F. Northant.. Trin. 4 Men. VI;
Feud, .lids, iv, p. 49.
" Bridget, loc. cit.
•• Ibid. ; Early Chan. Proc. bdle 587,
no. 40.
" Cal. Inq. Hen. VII, i, no. 297.
■'^ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xxix, 3 ;
G.E.C. Complete Peerage.
" Feet of F. Div. Cos. Hil. 2 Elii. j
Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), ccxiiv, 115;
Feet of I". Northants. East. 27 Eliz.
" Ibid. Hil. 34 Elir.. ; lUst. MRS. Com.
Rep. (Var. Coll.) iii, 66-71 ; Chan. Inq.
p.m. (Ser. ii), cclxxxviii, 119. In this
inquisition on the death of Simon Mallory,
no mcntinn is made of any manor in Wood-
ford, only of very considerable holdings of
lands, etc.
'" Feet of F. Northant.. Mich. 19 Jas. I ;
Recov. R. Hil. 19 Jai. I, ro. 17.
"' O.E.C. Complete Peerage ; Feet of
F. Northant!. Hil. 22 Chas. I j Recov.
R. Trin. 4 Geo I, ro. 128 ; ibid. Mich.
21 Geo. Ill, ro. 427.
*" Whcllan, op. cit.
*' G.E.C. Complete Peerage (New Ed.);
Whcllan, op. cit. p. 77, cf. Dr.iyton in
I.owick parish.
*' Dc Banco R. no. 395, m. 270.
" Ibid. ; Chron. Petrol. 22 ; Feui. Aids,
iv, 12.
256
HUXLOE HUNDRED
WOODFORD
known as TIIORLET'S MANOR. They had both
died by 1289, when Roger Bozoun did lionuige for the
lands of his wife Alice, daughter and heir of Richard and
Alice Trailly.'" In 1298 John Spigurncl did homage
for these lands, presumably in right of his wife Alice,
the widow of Bozoun.** In 1322, however, her son
John Bozoun succeeded to the manor.*' Thomas
Bozoun, probably his brother, was the tenant in
1348*' and died seised in 1361, leaving his son Henry
a minor, whose wardsiiip was granted to Sir Richard
la Zouche, knt., and Richard de Tissington, one of
the king's clerks.** Henry died before 1393, his
heir being his sister Alice, the wife of Walter Ilger.**
Before 1443, the manor had passed, presumably by
marriage, to the Thorlcy family, as at that time it was
apparently held by Isabel Thorley.''* She was suc-
ceeded before 1453 by John Thorley,'* who died in or
before 1508 when his son William did homage.*^
William died in 1515 leaving a son and heir named
Richard.'^ By sale or inheritance it came into the
possession of Anthony Muscott and his wife Eleanor,
the daughter and heir of William Burton.** Anthony
died before 1605, when William Muscott and his
wife and Eleanor Muscott, widow, sold Thorley's
manor to Thomas Abbott.** In 1652, John Abbott
sold it to Oliver St. John, the lord of Woodford
manor (q.v.).**
Joan, the younger daughter of Joan Maufe, married
Geoffrey Trailly, who did homage in 1275.*^ They
were succeeded in 1292 by their son William,*"
whose heir William was holding in 1315.*^ In 1 3 16,
the tenant of this fourth part of the manor was
Alice Trailly, presumably the widow or daughter of
William,**' but in the same year his brother Henry
did homage for tenements in Woodford.''^ In 1322,
when Henry did homage to the new abbot, Adam de
Boothby, for a quarter fee, he was said to be the
brother and heir of William Trailly.'- In 1332, he
settled the fourth part of the manor on himself and
his wife .Aubrey for their lives with remainder to
William, son of Miles de la Hay, and his wife, Emma,
possibly Henry's daughter.*^ In 1348, John de Walde-
grave was holding one share of the Maufe inheritance,
but only in right of his wife, while William de la
Hay held land in Woodford by charter.** It passed
to John de la Hay, who died in or before 1365, leaving
his heir a minor.** The latter was probably Hugh de
la Hay, whose daughter a"^,' heir married William
Rockingham.** The latter did homage in 1415,*' but
there were possibly other daughters, as the property
was subdivided at this time.*" Rokingiiam's share
seems to have passed before 1437 to William Farn-
ham.** Another William Farnham, probably his
grandson, succeeded in 1507 or 1508,'" and it
seems possible that it was this land which Robert
Barley sold in 1 562 to Simon Mallory as a fourth of
a fourth of the manor of Woodford." If so it was
presumably afterwards held with the main manor
of Woodford (q.v.).
Another part of the de la Hay share of Woodford
was known as LEN'TON'S MANOR. It may pro-
bably be identified with the tenements, consisting of
a messuage and a carucate of land which passed before
1332 from Bartholomew de Datchingham to John
Lenton.'* In 1428, Lenton's Manor was held by
Roger J^enton,'^ and he still
seems to have been the tenant
in 1455.'* Thomas, probably
his grandson, died seised in
1505 and was succeeded by
his son John.'* Robert suc-
ceeded his father John in 1558
and John, son of Robert, was
followed by his son Simon
Lenton, who was holding in
1616. His heir was his sister
Anne, wife of Sir Miles Fleet-
wood, and either her daughter
Anne or she in her widowhood
may have married John Shaw, who, with Anne his
wife, was holding the manor in 1641." It was sold
in 1657 by Simon Shaw and Anne Shaw, widow,
to Oliver St. John, lord of the chief manor of Wood-
ford (q.v.)."
A third share of Hugh de la Hay's lands came into
the possession of a family named Holt," and its sub-
sequent history presumably followed that of their
other holding in Woodford, called Trailly Place
(q.v.).
In 1622, when Simon Mallory sold his manors in
Woodford to Sir Rowland St. John, a manor called
CLEMENTS MANOR was included in the sale,'»
but it does not seem possible to trace its previous
history. In 1 369, however, John Clement of Woodford
and his wife Beatrice granted seven acres and one
rood of land of her inheritance to Richard de Tissing-
ton, clerk, but this is apparently the only mention of
the family.""
Lenton. Azure a bend
ermine between ttvo dol-
phins or.
" CbroH. Petrob. 144 ; De Banco R.
no. 395, m. 270.
«» Cott. MS.Vesp. Exxii.fols. 38, 46 d,
112 d; Feud. Aids, iv, 29; >ee Thrap-
iton.
" Cott. MS. Vcjp. E xxi, fol 78 d.
«' Ibid. Cleop. C i, fol. 146 ; Cal.
Close, 1354-60, p. 659.
*' Cal. Fine,vV\, p. 200, 212; Chan. Inq.
p.m. 36 Edw. Ill (pt. i), no. 36.
♦» Add. MS. 25288, fols. 8, 15 ; Feud.
Aids, iv, 49.
" Bridges, loc. cit.
'■ Ibid.
" Ibid. p. 266.
*• Chan. Inq. p m. (Ser. ii), xxx, 117.
'• Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 9 Eliz.
" Ibid. Mich. 2 Jas. I ; Recov. R. East.
] Jai. I, ro. loi.
" Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 1652.
" De Banco R. no. 395, m. 270 ; Cbron.
Petrob. 22.
" Ibid. 150.
" Cott. MS. Vesp. Exxii.fol. 1121/.
•" Feud, .lids, iv, p. 29.
•' Cott. MS. Vesp. Exxii.fol. wod.
" Ibid, xxi, fol. 791/. In 1346, John dc
Drayton sued Robert de Bois for the pre-
sentation to the mediety of the advowson
of the church, as having the custody of
John Trailly, a grandson of William. The
result does not appear, but neither John
de Drayton nor his father, who was said to
have died seised of i of the manor, ap-
pears to have done homage to the abbot ;
cf. De Banco R. no. 395, m. 270.
"Cott. MS. Cleop. C ii, fols. i^xd,
liid.
" Ibid, i, fols. 146, 133.
•' Cal. Pal. 1364-7, p. 124; Cal. Close,
1364-68, p. III.
"Add. MS. 25288, fol. 15.
•' Ibid.
" Feud. Aids, iv, 49.
257
" Bridges, op. cit, ii. 267, cit. Episc.
Reg.
'" Ibid. 266.
" Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 4 & 5
Eliz.
" Cott. MS. Cleop. C ii, fol. 151^.
" Feud. 'Itds, iv, 49.
"* Bridges, loc. cit.
" Close R. II Edw. IV, m. 5 ; Chan.
Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xviii, 95.
'^ For descent sec Aldwinkle All Saints ;
Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 25 and 26
Eliz.; Hil. 39Eliz. ;Hil. i6Chas. I.
" Ibid. Hil. 1657.
" Feud. Aids, iv. 49 ; Chan. Inq. p.m.
Hen. V. nos. ^^& 103.
" Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 19
Jas. I.
'» Feet of F. Northants. East. 43
Edw. III. Tissington had the wardship
of Henry Bozoun, who came of age in 1369
(see ante.)
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
A second holding in Woodford, which appears later
to have been called JRJILLT PLACE or NOR-
WICWS MAXOR, belonged in the reign of Edward
the Confessor to the soke of Peterborough Abbey.**
It consisted of a hide and a virgate of land, which were
held by Burred, but in 1086 it had been granted to
the Bishop of Coutances who held it in chief of the
king.^ In the 12th century survey, it appears as a
holding of li- hides belonging to the fee of Peter-
borough,*^ but this probably represented an attempt
by the abbey to recover the land after the bishop's
forfeiture. It was unsuccessful and at some subse-
quent date the land was granted to the Clares and was
held of the honour of Gloucester as half a knight's
In 10S6, the bishop's tenant was named Ralph,**
but early in the 12th century Guy de Trailly was the
sub-tenant.*^ Either the name Guy is a mistake for
Geoffrey, or else the mesne tenant's name is omitted
and Guy was the tenant in demesne and the ancestor
of the Trailly s of Woodford. The mesne tenants
under the Clares were undoubtedly the Traillys,
who held the manor of Yelden in Bedfordshire,*'
and Sir John Trailly was holding the half-fee in 1398,**
but after this date the mesne lordship disappears.
The tenants in demesne be-
longed to another branch of
the family, of which Guy may
have been the first. In 1241,
William de Trailly seems to
have been the tenant,*' and he
was probably the father of
Richard and Geoffrey Trailly,
who obtained by marriage two
shares of the manor of Wood-
ford (q.v.). Certainly the half-
fee passed to Richard Trailly
and his heirs, represented in
1403 by Walter Ilger.*" It
passed shortly afterwards to Sir Jolin Holt, who died
seised of Trailly Place in 1419,'* and was succeeded by
his two sons Hugh*^ and Richard. The latter died in
1429, when his heir was his cousin Simon Norwich.*^
John Norwich died seised in 1504, when the manor
was said to be held in chief of the king.*^ His great-
grandson, Simon, sold it in 1570 to Simon
Mallory,'* who was lord of the chief manor of Wood-
ford (q.v.).
All the tenants in Woodford did suit of court at
the abbot's court for tlie Hundred of Huxloc and
were geldable, but Richard de Clare, Earl of Glou-
cester, withdrew the suit of his Woodford tenants
to his Icet at Denford.** He also claimed certain
privileges that were held by the Abbey in the Hundred,
Trailly. Or
between four
gules.
a cross
marllets
namely, the return of writs, pleas de vaviio vetito,
view of frank-pledge, gallows and the assizes of bread
and ale." In the l8th century. Lord St. John
of Bletsoe had a court leet and court baron in the
manor of Woodford.'*
A mill was attached to Roger Maufe's manor in
Woodford in 1086, when it paid 2s. a year,*' and a
water-mill was attached to the manor in 1718.^ When
Simon Mallory sold his Woodford possessions to
Sir Rowland St. John in 1621, three water-mills were
included in the sale.* These were probably the three
mills of which his father died seised, called Dodcs
Mills.^ Two other water-mills, called WiUicoat mills,
seem to have been in the Crown in the reign of Henry
VIII, and were granted in 1544 to William, Lord Parr
of Horton.* They had reverted to the Crown before
1560, when Elizabeth granted them to William
Garrard and others, but this grant was surrendered
two years later.* They were afterwards granted to
Sir Robert Lane and Anthony Throckmorton, who
sold them to Henry Gierke of Stanwick. He died
seised of them in 1574, when his heir was his son
William.' They passed, however, to Gabriel, the
brother of William, and on his death in 1623 he
was succeeded by their nephew Christopher, a
minor.'
A free fishery is mentioned as appurtenant to the
manor of Woodford, after its division amongst the
daughters of Robert Maufe. Thus in 1332 a quarter
part of a fishery in the Nene worth 4/. a year was
included in the settlement made by Henry Trailly
of his share of the manor.* Again in 1592, a free
fishery was sold with Woodford or Pycl's manor by
Lord Vaux to Simon Mallory,® and is frequently
mentioned after the manors had passed to the St.
Johns."
The church of ST. MART-THE-
CHURCH VIRGIN consists of chancel 40 ft.
by 17 ft. 6 in., clearstoried nave 79 ft.
by 14 ft. 3 in., north and south aisles 12 ft. 6 in. wide,
north and south porches, and west tower 11 ft. by
12 ft. surmounted by a spire. The width across
nave and aisles is 44 ft. 10 in., and the total length of
the church 138 ft. 6 in., all these measurements
being internal. There is a modern vestry and
organ chamber on the north side of the chancel.
The church, which is of rubble throughout, was
restored in 1867. The chancel was then partly rebuilt,
and has a modern high-pitched tiled roof, but all the
other roofs are leaded and of flat-pitch behind plain
parapets. Internally, with the exception of the tower,
all the walls are plastered.
The architectural history of the building appears to
be briefly as follows : the original structure was an
•• V.C.U. Norlhants. i, 311.
" Ibid.
•• Ibid. 388A.
'* Feud. Aids, iv, 12; Chroti. Pelrob.
p. 114; Chan. Inq. p.m. 8 Edv/. II, no. 68 ;
36 Edw. Ill, pt. i, no. 36; 46 Edw. Ill
(ut nos), no. 6i ; 16 Ric. II, no. 27;
22 Ric. II, no. 46 ; 4 Hen. IV, no. 41.
" V.C.II. Sorihanii. i, p. 311.
•• Ibid. 338ft.
•' y.C.II. Brdi. iii, 176; Feud. Aids,
iv, 12; Cat. Fine, vii, 212; Chan. Inq.
p.m. 4'i F.dw. Ill (lit not.), no. 62.
" Ibid. 22 Ric. II, no. 46.
" Rol. Rob. C'rosirleiie (Cant, and York
Soc.) 203 ; Bh. of Fees, ii, 937.
"" Feud. Aids, iv, 12 ; Chan. Inq. p.m.
36 Edw. Ill, pt. i, no. 36 ; 4 Hen. IV, no.
41 ; Crt/. Ftnr, vii, 212.
•' Chan. Inq. p.m. 6 Ilcn. V, no. 43.
" Ibid. 8 Hen. V, no. 103.
" Ibid. 30 Hen. VI, no. 13.
" Ibid. (Ser. ii), xviii, ;ii.
■" Ibid. (Ser. ii), Ixxxix, 99 ; cxii, 111;;
Feet of F. NorthanU. Hil. 12 Eli/. ;
W. C. Metcalfe, ^111/. of Norlhanls. pp.
35, 112.
■* Kol. Hund. (Rcc. Com.), ii, 7 j Cbron.
Pelrob. p. 114.
" Rol. Hund. (Rcc. Com.) ii, 7.
•" Recov. R. Trin. 4 Ceo. I, ro. 1 28 j
Mich. 21 Ceo. Ill, ro. 372.
258
»» y.C.II. Korlhanls. i, 317*.
' Rccov. R. Trin. 4 Geo. 1, ro. 128.
" Ibid. nil. 19 Jas. I, ro. 17.
* Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), cclxxxviii^
109.
* L. and P. lien. VIII, xix, pt. i, g. 141
(75)-
» Pat. R. 2 Klir,. pt. 13.
• Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), clxxi, loi.
' Ibiil. ccccvi, 4.
" Colt.MS. Cleop. Cii,fol. ijirf.
• Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 34 Eliz.
'" Ibid. Hil. 22 Elir.. ; Recov. R. Trin.
4 Geo. I, ro. 128 ; Mich. 29 Ceo. HI. ro.
564.
Woodford Church from thf. South-east
Woodford Church ; The Interior, looking East
HUXLOE HUNDRED
WOODFORD
aisleless early I2th century church vvitli nave and
chancel of equal breadth, to which about 1200 a
north aisle and chancel chapel were added. The tower
also is of this period. In the 1 3th century a new chan-
cel of great length was built east of the older chancel,
which was thrown into the nave, the old chancel arch
being replaced by a new one ; at the same time
the north aisle was widened and a south aisle with
porch of two stories added. A lateral chapel, witli
narrow east and west aisles, was also planned just
east of the porch projecting from tlie soutli wall of
the church. This was probably completed, but only
its west aisle remains, the rest having been taken
down in the 15th century when the aisle walls on
imposts, but that at the east end has been cut away.
The arcade prob.ibly occupied the whole extent of
the north wall of the early cliantcl, wliich was after-
wards joined up to the new work built from the east.
The chancel is of three bays with coupled angle
buttresses of two stages and a modern east window
of tiiree lancets." The nortli and south windows of
the eastern bay in tlieir present form*- are also modern,
dating only from the restoration, but the chancel is
substantially of 13th-century date, the south wall
retaining a keel-shaped string at sill level and a
priest's doorway in the middle bay with continuous
moulded head and jambs. The piscina and triple
sedilia are also original. They form a single compo-
I2ffl Century
C.I200
C1250-80
C3 142! Century
H(I5I!J Century
□ Modern
Plan of Woodford Church
both sides were largely rebuilt or new windows
inserted. The spire and north porch are additions of
the early 14th century.
The original nave was 46 ft. long, and its eastern
limit is still marked by compound piers in both
arcades and by the 13th-century transverse arch
between them. The north arcade is of four bays, with
three round arches and a narrow pointed one at the
west end, all of a single square order, springing from
cylindrical piers with moulded bases and sculptured
capitals, and from moulded imposts at either end.
The capitals differ in character ; that of the western
pier has on two sides a face with foliage issuing from
the mouth, but on the others the foliage is of con-
ventional stiff-leaf character. The eastern arch is
considerably wider than the others, the spacing of
the arcade being thus very irregular. Beyond the
compound pier, which has half-round responds on its
north and south faces, is the arcade of the old chancel,
which consists of two round arches similar to the
others springing from a cylindrical pier with moulded
capital and base ; the work is rather later than that
just described, the capital having nail-head ornament,
but followed closely on it. The responds have moulded
sition of four uncusped pointed arches, the seats
being on one level and divided by detached shafts
with moulded capitals and bases. The piscina has a
plain bowl and hollow-chamfered recess, with a small
shaft in its east jamb. The north wall below the
window is blank, but farther west, in the middle bay,
is a pointed doorway now opening to the modern
vestry.*^ The western bay is occupied by a 13th-
century wall arcade of three uncusped hollow-cham-
fered arches on clustered shafts of quatrefoil section
with moulded capitals and bases and single jamb
shafts. In the south wall opposite is a similar arcade
of four arches opened out and restored in 1867, the
arch next the priests' doorway being very narrow, but
there is no indication that the arcading extended
farther east on either side. Within the western arch
of the north arcade is a trefoil headed low-side window,
originally fitted with one vertical and four horizontal
iron bars, one of which remains.''' The western window
in the south wall is a 15th-century insertion of four
lights with Perpendicular tracery. The 13th-century
chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, the inner
springing from half-round responds with moulded
capitals and bases. The ritual chancel extends about
** The former window was of four lighti
with interiecting mullions.
" They are of two trefoiled lighti
•imilar to the west window of the north
aisle. Formerly the north window was of
two lights with forked mullion and that on
the south a three light perpendicular
insertion : Cbi. Arcbd. Nortbampt. 85.
*' It probably opened originally to a
sacristy covering the middle bay.
259
^* Assoc. Arcb. Sac. Reps, xxix, 457.
The window is now blocked on the out-
side by the organ : the opening is 3 ft. 5 in.
high by 18 in. wide, and the sill is z ft. Sin.
above the floor.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
8 ft. west of the chancel into the nave : there is a
dwarf wall, but no screen.
Tlie south arcade of the original nave has three
wide pointed arches of two chamfered orders dying
into the wall at the west end and at the east resting
on a half-octagonal respond. The piers and the
respond have moulded capitals and bases, but the
western pier is octagonal and the other cylindrical
with an octagonal capital. Transverse arches are
carried over the aisle from both piers as well as
from the compound pier farther east, all similar to
those of the arcades. The western arch rests on a
moulded corbel in the south wall, but the other two
spring from 13th-century piers of four clustered shafts
which originally marked the entrance to the lateral
chapel but are now built into the later walling ; of
these piers the capital of the western is carved with
stiff-leaf foliage, but the other is simply moulded,
and both have moulded bases.** The extended
arcade, on the south side of the old chancel, is of
two bays with pointed arches of two hollow chamfers
and deep moulded hood, springing from a cylindrical
pier** with circular moulded capital and base and from
a half-octagonal respond at the east end. At the
west the arch dies out. The 13th-century arch across
the nave, which was substituted for the original
chancel arch, is of two chamfered orders, the inner
on half-round responds with moulded capitals and
bases, and north of it a transverse arch is carried over
the aisle, as on the suuth side.*'
The south doorway and porch are very beautiful
examples of 13th century work, with elaborate
mouldings and richly decorated. The inner doorway
is of two main orders, the inner forming a trefoiled
arch and the outer a moulded round arch with
delicate foliage on both planes, and label over ; in
the space above formed by the pointed wall-arch is
a trefoiled niche containing a modern statue of the
Blessed Virgin, with a moulded and cuspcd trefoil on
each side. The jambs have three major shafts with
moulded capitals and bases, and smaller attached
shafts between ; the outer shaft on each side carries
the diagonal ribs of the porch vault, which is of simple
quadripartite form.** The outer doorway has an
acutely pointed arch of three orders elaborately
moulded with rolls and hollows, on clustered jamb-
shafts with moulded capitals, bases and mid-bands.
The hoodmould terminates in masks.
The chamber over the porch was approached by a
stairway in the west wall, which still remains, opening
from the sill of a later window in the aisle, but the
porch is now finished with a plain parapet. Of the
building eastward only the narrow west aisle remains ;
it is 5 ft. 8 in. wide, opening to the church by a
pointed arch, and was covered by an oblong quadri-
partite vault, the springing of which remains in three
of the angles. The position of the corresponding
cast aisle is marked by the clustered pier and a blocked
arch to the aisle, but there has been so much rebuilding
and alteration in later times that the original arrange-
ment must remain in some measure uncertain. The
wide middle bay was apparently vaulted and open to
the church and probably was used as a chapel. An
upper story forming part of the porch chamber may
also be assumed, but whether this, too, was used as
a chapel or for some other purpose it is impossible
to say.***
All the windows of the south aisle are 15th-century
insertions, those east of the porch being of four
cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery and four-
centred heads. The end windows are of three lights,
that in the west wall and a three-light window west
of the porch being without tracery. The west
window of the north aisle and one in the north wall
are of the early 14th century, of two trefoiled lights,
with pointed trefoils and quatrefoil over,^" but all
the others are 15th-century insertions of three lights ;
that at the east end is now blocked by the organ
chamber. The 13th-century north doorway is of
two moulded orders, the inner continuous, the outer
on jambshafts with moulded capitals and bases. The
porch has a modern slated roof without gable coping
and an outer doorway of two moulded orders, the
inner springing from half-round responds with
moulded capitals and bases. It has single trefoiled
windows in the side walls, but no benches.
The east end of the north aisle is used as a morning
chapel; in the south wall is a 13th-century piscina
and remains of sedilia destroyed in the making of a
tomb recess cut through the wall to the west of the
new chancel arch c. 1 290. In the north wall, between
the windows, there are two plain four-centred 15th-
century niches.
The stairs to the rood loft remain in an almost
perfect condition on the south side of the chancel
arch, entered from the east end of the aisle by a
plain four-centred doorway. The staircase was made
in the 15th century and projects into the aisle, from
which it was lighted by small windows, now blocked,
in the south and west.^* There is a small recess,'^
perhaps for a piscina, in the south wall of the aisle,
and farther west a low wall-recess with two-centred
moulded segmental arch. North of the east window
is a niche with image bracket.
The clearstory windows are square headed and of
two trefoiled lights ; there are two on each side of
the extended nave and three of plainer character
to the old nave spaced to the bays of the south
arcade.
The tower is of four main stages with coupled
buttresses about half its height, so placed as to cut
off the square angles of the lower part ; the angles
of the upper story thus overhang and arc supported
by corbels in the form of heads. The buttresses are
of two stages. On the west side in the second stage
is a single hooded lancet with wide internal splay,
and another smaller one on the north side. The bell-
chamber windows are of two plain lancets divided
by a square shaft and set within a pointed arch on
shafted jambs with cushion capitals ; the tympanum
** Three ihafti of the wcitcrn and
two of the eaitorn pier alone arc
viiible.
*• The pier i> of greater diameter than
that oppoiite in the north arcade.
*' The north aiilc arch ii new. In
1849 the reipondi alone remained :
Chi. Ar(bd. Norlhampl. 87.
** The plan of the porch is an oblong
measuring 8 ft. 6 in. from west to
east by 5 ft. j the vaulting ribs arc
chamfered.
" The tlicor)' that it constituted a
dwelling house above a vaulted under-
croft used for no special purpose is not
convincing and seems only to have been
260
advanced to account for an unusual
feature.
■" The new windows in the cast bay of
the chancel arc copied from these.
" 'i'lu-re is no indication of the doorway
to tljc loft, but it may be hidden by the
plaster.
" It ii 61 in. wide by 7] in. high.
HUXLOE HUNDRED
WOODFORD
is plain. The tower terminates with a trefoiled
corbel table and plain parapet with elaborate angle
pinnacles.** The pointed tower arch has been rebuilt ;
it is of three** chamfered orders, the innermost on
half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals and
bases. The line of the high-pitched I3tl>-century
nave roof rcm.iins above the arcii. There is no
vice.
The spire belongs to the same category as those of
Denford and Grafton Underwood, with ' broaches '
behind the parapet, and has ribbed angles and three
sets of lights on the cardinal faces. The lights are
of early ' Decorated ' character and the lower lights
are t ransomed.
The 13th-century font has a plain hexagonal bowl
on si.x detached sliafts with moulded capitals and
bases grouped round a central cylindrical stem, and
mounted on two hexagonal steps. On the underside
of the bowl at the angles arc small sculptured faces.
The roofs have been extensively restored, but the
moulded tie-beams of tiie nave are old and the ridge
and purlins in the western portion ; there arc also
some old timbers in the south aisle roof and at the
east end of the north aisle.
The wooden effigies of Sir Walter Trailly (d. 1290)
and his wife have already been described.*^ They lie
under a two-centred segmental moulded arch cut
through the wall between the north chapel and the
extended nave.*'
In the chancel is a grave slab with brass of Simon
Mallory the elder (d. 1580), who is represented in
armour, with shield of arms and inscription,*' and on
another slab a brass plate with inscription to Dorothy
wife of Simon Mallorv the younger, of Woodford,
' whoe had 15 sonnes and daughters ' and was buried
5 June 1639.
There is some old glass in the top lights of the
easternmost window of the north aisle ; it is mostly
yellow and white and comprises six figures, including
a king and two saints.
In the west face of the northern compound pier
is a heart-burial niche discovered during the restora-
tion of 1867.**
A chest in the nave is dated 1686.
The pulpit and all the fittings are modern.
There are six bells, the treble and third by J.
Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, 1913 ; the second
and tenor, dated 1616; the fourth by Thomas Norris
of Stamford, 1662 ; and the fifth by W. and J. Taylor
of Oxford, 1839.**
The plate consists of a cup of c. 1570 with the
maker's initials i m linked, a paten inscribed ' W.
Yates, rector, W. Wootton, J. Mollis Eccl. Guard.
1683,' without date-letter, but with the mark e b
thrice repeated; a jug-shaped flagon of 1863, and a
silver gilt cup and paten of 1872 ; there is also a
pewter tlagon with tlic maker's mark r b.*"
The registers before 1812 are as follows* (i) bap-
tisms and burials 16S0-1K00, marriages 1680-1753 ;
(ii) marriages 1754-1812; (iii) baptisms 1806-1812,
burials 1801-1812. The first pages of the third
volume are cut out.
The church of All Saints or St.
ADl'OjySON Mary'i probably existed at the time
of the Domesday survey, when the
priest appears amongst the tenants of the Bishop of
Coutances.^ To which holding in Woodford the
advowson belonged at that time is not apparent, but
probably the Maufcs claimed it. In 1 205 an agree-
ment was made between Walter Trailly and Lucas
Maufe, the tenants of the two holdings, that each
should hold a mediety of the advowson,'^ and this
division remained. TheTraillys' mediety was known
as the northern, or later as Cock's mediety,** and was
held by Walter's descendants until 1400,^ when Sir
John Trailly, knt., died seised of it. He seems,
however, to have granted it to Sir Gerald Braybrook,
knt., and Edmund Hampden, who presented in 1411.^'
Thomas Hampden and Richard Restwold presented
in 1461, and John Hampden in 1511.^' John Hampden
appears to have granted the presentation to different
people in 1524, 1526 and 1549, and finally to Simon
Mallory, who presented in 1558.^ In 1622, his
nephew Simon Mallory sold a mediety of the advowson
to Sir Rowland St. John,^' but he had also inherited
part at least of the other mediety, so that it is not certain
what was included in the sale.^" By 1648, however,
the St. Johns had acquired both medieties,^! and
Lord St. John is the present patron of the living.
The other mediety, which was assigned in 1205 to
Lucas Maufe and his heirs, was known as the southern
or Style's mediety,** and was divided like the manor
(q.v.) among the heiresses of Robert Maufe. In 1286
an arrangement was made by which John de Bois
and his wife Alice and their heirs, as tenants of two
parts of the manor, should make the first and third
of every four presentations to the mediety, while
Richard de Trailly, Roger de Bozoun, his wife Alice
and their heirs, as tenants of a quarter of the manor,
should make the fourth presentation, and Geoffrey
Trailly, his son William and their heirs, the second
presentation, as tenants of the last quarter of the
*' The pinnacles were probably added
when the spire was built ; their plan ' con-
sists of eight alternate rounds and hollows,
the top is a composition of heads and
croclceted canopies and is crowned by
a finial ' : Chs. Archd. Northampi. 82.
** There arc four orders on the west side,
the two outer dying out.
•* y.C.II. Norlhanls. i. 401.
•• ' For upwards of twenty years the
effigies were reposing at the west end of
the church, having been removed from
their arch, but on paving the north aisle
in 1845 they were placed near their original
situation at the east end of the aisle' (Cole,
MS. Hat. oj Woodford). They were subse-
quently replaced under the arch.
•' The inscription reads ; * Here lyethe
Sjrmon Malory the elder esquyer who dyed
the daye of in the yere of our Lordc
God McccccLxxx and whos soule is in
the greate mercye of Jesus Christ our
Savyor.'
'** It contained a box in which a human
heart was found wrapped in a piece of
cloth : Northampt. N. &■ Q. 1K84-5,
P- 75-
*" The treble was added in 1913 to a ring
of five, and all the bells rehung. The old
second (now third) was by Tobie Norris
1673. The inscriptions on the old bells are
given in North, Cb. Bells of Northann.
450.
•" Markham, Cb. Plate of NorthanH.
321.
" De Banco R. 537, m. 222; Recov.
R. Hil. 19 Ja«. I, ro. 17 ; Bacon, Liber
Regit, p. 823.
261
" V.C.H Nortbants. i, 311.
" Feet of F. Northants, Trin. 7 John.
The name Tilly in the fine seems an
obvious error for Trailly.
" Bridges, op. cit. ii, 267; Bacon, loc.
cit.
" Bridges, loc. cit. ; Rot. Rob. Grosse-
tesle (Cant, and York Soc), pp. 203, 226 ;
Chan. Inq. p.m. 1 Hen. IV, pt. 1, no. 42.
"' Bridg's, loc. cit.
" Ibid.
«« IbiJ
'" Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 19
Jas. I.
«» Ibid. Hil. 34 Elli. ; W. C. Metcalfe,
Viiit. of Nortbants. pp. 25, 112.
♦■ Instit. Bks. (P.R.O.) 1629, 1638,
1648.
*' Bridges, loc. cit. \ Bacon, loc. cit.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
manor.'" The reversal of the order of presentation
by the two Traillys was due to the fact that Richard
de Trailly was to make the first presentation and in
fact had already done so in 1285.*' This arrangement
is recited in a lawsuit of 1 346 and can be traced in
the presentations down to the 16th century.** The
share of the Bois passed with their manor (q.v.) to
Lord Vaux of Harrowden, who sold it in 1592 to
Simon Mallory,** and it presumably passed with the
other property of the Mallorys in Woodford to Sir
Rowland St. John, who first presented to one of the
medieties of the church in 1629.'" Richard de
Trailly's share passed with his manor (q.v.) to the
Thorleys, and William Thorley presented in 1494,''*
but it is not mentioned amongst his possessions at
his death in 1515,'" nor in subsequent sales of
Thorley's Manor.*" Geoffrey de Trailly's share in the
mediety of the church also followed the descent of
his quarter share in the manor (q.v.). After the sub-
division of this holding on the death of Hugh de la
Hay, William Rockingham presented in 1400, William
Farnham and John Welles in 1437, Roger Lenton and
John Welles in 1446, VV'illiam Aldwinkle and Roger
Lenton in 1455.** In none of the later conveyances
of Lenton's, however, is any share of the advowson
mentioned,*- but in 1562 Robert Barley sold a quarter
of a quarter of the mediety of the advowson to Simon
Mallory,*' who presumably also acquired in some way
the remaining shares in this mediety of the advowson.
The abbot of Peterborough received, in the 13th
century, 5 marks a year from the rectory of Wood-
ford.** After the dissolution of the abbey, this portion
was granted in 1 541 to the Dean and Chapter of
Peterborough.**
The Woodford Charity Estate,
CHARITIES administered by nine trustees in con-
formity with the provisions of a
scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 12 July
1896, comprises the charity of Peter Gray (deed
7 May 1577), endowment 39 a. 3 r. of land and 4
cottages and barn in Woodford and a sum of
^35 js. lod. Consols with the Official Trustees of
Charitable Funds, produced by the sale in 1916 of a
small piece of land known as the Schoolmaster's
Garden and the charity of Susannah Louisa Baroness
St. John — will proved in Prerogative Court 29
Nov. 1805— endowment of ^^129 os. ild. Consols
with the Official Trustees. The land is let in allot-
ments, and with the cottages produced £qo 8s. \d.
in 1924. The dividends on the stock amount to
£^ 2s. yearly. The income is applied in subscriptions
to hospitals and in the distribution of coal.
Whaley's Money. A rentcharge or customary
payment of I3.r. \d. has long been received by
the churchwardens out of land and distributed
yearly among five poor widows. This charity is
ascribed to donations by persons named Wales and
Forscott.
The Church Land was awarded by the Com-
missioners upon inclosures in Woodford and Denford
to the churchwardens of Woodford. The Denford
inclosure took place in 1766. The property consists of
14 a. 3 r. 5 p. of land in Woodford let for ^18 17/.
yearly and 3 r. of land in Denford let for £2 yearly.
The Official Trustees hold a sum of £1,997 '5^- '°'^-
Consols arising from investments of rents and royalties
and producing ^^49 18/. ?,d. yearly. The income is
applied towards general church expenses.
" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 14
Edw. I.
** Bridges, loc. cit. ; Feet of F. North-
ant«. Trin. 14 Edw. I.
*' De Banco R. 395, m. 270 ; Bridges,
loc. cit.
" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 34 Eliz.
♦' Instit. Bks. (P.R.O.).
*' Bridges, loc. cit.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii), xxx, 1 17.
" Feet of F. Northants. Trin. 9 Eliz. ;
East. 40 Eliz. ; Mich. 2 Jas. I ; Mich. 1652.
" Bridges, op. cit. 268 (\Vm. Bukyng-
ham is given probably in error for Wm.
Rockingham.)
" Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii),xviii,95, 511;
Feet of F. North.-ints. Hil. 12 Eliz. ; Mich.
25 & 26 Eliz. ; Hil. 16 Chas. I ; Hil.
1657.
" Feet of F. Northants. Mich. 4 & 5
Eliz.
" Cott. MS. Vesp. E xxii, fol. 60 d ;
Pope Nub. Tax (Rcc. Com.), 40.
" L. andP. Hen. yill,xv\,g. 1226(10).
262
I
I
I
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X
o
BOROUGH OF HIGHAM FERRERS
Hecham (xi cent.) ; Hehham, Hcicham, Hckham
(xii cent.) ; Hcgham, Hcighani, Hetham, Hecham
Fereres, Hegham Ferrers, Hcgham Fcrrars (xiii cent.) ;
Hecham Ferres, Higham Ferres, Hcgham Fercrs,
Higham Ferrers (xiv cent.).
The parish of Higham Ferrers lies between Stan-
wick on the north, Chelveston cum Caldecote on
the east, and Rushdcn on the south, the river Nene
separating it from the parish of Irthlingborough on
the west. It has an area of 1,945 ^cres, 696 of which
are arable land, wheat, barley, beans being the chief
crops, 810 acres of permanent grass and 13 acres of
woods and plantations. The soil is mixed, the sub-
soil for the most part Great Oolite with streaks of
Cornbrash on the east and I'pper Lias on the
west.
The parish is generally 200 ft. above the ordnance
datum, rising in the south-east to 300 ft. Open
fields called ' The Buscotts ' and ' No Man's Leys '
were inclosed in 1800 and other waste lands in 1838.*
In 1921 the population was 2,850.
The town stands on rising ground on the main
road from Bedford to Kettering ; the road from
Wellingborough to Kimbolton crosses it here, enter-
ing at the south end of the town and leaving at
the north end, in order to bring all the traffic
through the market place to pay toll. The southern
part of the main road is called the High Street, the
middle part College Street and northward Station
Road. Running parallel to this road on the west side
is a lane called Back Lane. The church is in the
middle of the town on the east side. South-west of
it is the Market Place or Market Stead, around which
and northward of it are the more important buildings.
The late 13th-century market cross in the Market
Place consists of a stone shaft with foliated capital
surmounted by a modern square abacus and iron
weather vane. The shaft is octagonal for the greater
part of its height, but becomes circular near the top ;
it is now stayed up by three iron struts, which also
serve as supports for lamps, and the base consists of a
conical pile of masonry, probably formed by casing
round the original steps. The total height of the
cross is 14 ft. In Bridges' time the shaft terminated
in a small stone cube carved with a Crucifixion.*
The cross in the churchyard, known in 1463 as
' the VVardeyn Cross,' was restored in 1919 as a war
memorial. The Stump Cross and Spittle Cross,
which once marked the northern and southern
boundaries of the borough, have now long disappeared.
The town hall, a small plain detached building of
two stories in the Market Square, was erected in
1808, probably on the site of the Hall of the Burgesses
repaired in 1395.**
On the south of the town hall and adjoining it,
there stood in the 17th century the town bakehouse
where leaseholders of the manor of Higliam Ferrers
were bound to bake all their bread, the custom of the
house being to ' backe ye bread well for Twoe
pence the bushell.'* The old manor house on the
east of the market, rebuilt before 1838, is supposed
to have been the dwelling place of the Rudd
family.*
A few old stone houses remain in the town : No. 5
Market Square, with two-story muUioned bay win-
dows and four-centred middle doorway, is probably
of late 16th-century date, but has a modern eaved
roof in the place of former gables. Nos. 3 and 4
Wood Street, south of the church, now occupied by
the Post Office and a coflee tavern, is a building
apparently of 17th-century date, on the front of
which is a long strapwork plaster panel ; at the
north end of the town is a modernised block of
cottages with a panel inscribed ' N.K. Ano 1603,' and
another building at North End is dated 1728. On
the east side of College Street is a house with panel
inscribed 't^E '7°9>' ^"'J ^°5. 7 and 8 Market
Square is a well-designed 18th-century stone building
of two stories with drafted quoins, cornice and slightly
advanced pedimented centre.
The Bedehouse, standing on the south side of and
parallel with the church, at a distance of about
28 yds., is a 15th-century structure consisting of a
hall 65 ft. 9 in. long by 24 ft. wide internally, with a
chapel 18 ft. 6 in. square at its east end. The build-
ing, which was restored in 1923, is faced on the north
and west sides with alternate courses of light free-
stone and red ironstone, but on the south and east
with rubble, and the hall is divided into six bays by
buttresses of two stages. There is a bell-cote over
the west gable and the eaved roof is covered with
modern tiles. The hall has a large projecting stone
fireplace in the middle of the south wall, with moulded
four-centred arch, and a pointed doorway with
crocketed hood at the west end ; there are also door-
ways at each end of the south wall, and one on the
north side in the third bay from the west. Above
the west doorway is a large window^ of five cinque-
foiled lights with slightly ogee head, crocketed label
with finial andheadstops, and modern vertical tracery,
and in the north and south walls two square-headed
windows of two cinquefoiled lights with transoms
and pointed rear arches. The hall was formerly
divided by screens and no doubt had a western
vestibule and space round the fire ; it contained
thirteen cubicles arranged round the walls, the
positions of which are indicated by lockers, five of
which in the north wall east of the doorway, long
' /leu, Priv. and Lot. 40 Geo. Ill,
cap. 36 ; I Vict. cap. 11.
• Alloc. Arch. Soc. Reft, xxiii, 179.
•• Hut. MSS. Com. Rep. lii, App. ix,
p. 551. • Pari. Surr. Northanti. 33.
* Colt, Hisl. of Higham Ferrtrl, 91-3.
* Some ttained glass remained in the
window in Bridges* time — in the southern
division the arms of the see of Canterbury,
in the middle France and England
263
quarterly, and in the northern division
the arms of Chichclcy. Above the arms
were ' miniature portraits of our Saviour,
the Virgin, and leveral bishops mitred.' :
Hilt, oj Northanti. ii, 178.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
filled up and plastered over, have been opened out
and restored.' The fine open timbered roof is of
six bays and has curved moulded principals carried
down as wall pieces and resting on moulded and
battlemented corbels ; the wall plate is also battle-
mented. The bell-cote has a trefoiled opening, and
canopied niches facing north and south ; it contains
a bell by Thomas Eayre, of Kettering, 1737.' The
chapel is divided from the hall by a pointed arch
on the soutli-west,^'' seems to be in part contemporary
with it, and although large alterations obscure any
real evidence of date, the thick walls point to a corrobo-
ration of this idea. A room at the north end, now the
study, has a ceiling with good moulded oak beams
and cornice together with indications of a large open
fireplace.
About 18 ft. west uf the north-west angle of the
church tower stands the School House, a beautiful
HiGHAM FrRHhRs: The Squark
of two moulded orders, the inner on half-round
responds with battlemented capitals, and by a modern
wooden screen. The floor of the chapel is raised
2 ft.'io in. above that of the hall, to allow for a vaulted
crvpt or bonc-house,access to which was by an external
doorway on the north side. The chapel was for long
in a ruinous condition,* and in its present state is
largely a restoration. The cast window is of three
lights with moulded jambs and elaborate modern
tracery ; the north and south windows' arc of two
lights with vertical tracery and ogee crnckctcd hood-
moulds. The piscina has a square bowl and trefoiled
head with crocketed hoodmould.
The vicarage house, which adjoins the Bcdchouse
15th-century structure. It is of three bays divided
by buttresses, with a window of three lights in each
bay and one of five lights at the east and west ends.
The cast window and those on the north side have
long been blocked. The building, which measures
internally 36 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 6 in., is faced with
ashlar, and has a moulded plinth, string at sill level,
and pierced battlemented parapet above a cornice
ornamented with roses and other flowers. The
buttresses, which at the angles are set diagonally,
are of three stages and arc carried up above the flat-
pitched leaded roof as crocketed pinnacles. The
windows arc all four-ccntrod, with hoodmoulds and
cincjuefoilcd lights, those at the east and west having
• The lockcri arc z ft. wide by .ibout
3 ft. high and itand 18 in. above the floor.
' Cbuichti^ /Ircbd. Noribamfit. 26.
' An engraving of 181 1 ihowi it tooflcii,
the e.iit window without tracery and the
•ill broken. It wai * unroofed and quite
ruinoui ' in 1849 : ibid. 27.
• In Bridget' time * the imperfect
264
portrait! of »aint« and kings' remained
in thcBe windows : op. cit. ii, 178.
*" It« north-east anple is joined to the
louth-weit angle of the Bedehouie.
BOROUGH OF HICHAM FERRERS
vertical tracery. The sills are about 8 ft. above the
floor, allowing room beneath for a doorway in each
of the end bays on the south side. The easternmost
doorway has a continuous moulded four-centred
head, but the other is set within a rectangular frame
with carved spandrels. Below the west window,
which is more elaborate than that at the east, are
four small cinqucfoiled openings, l* originally ligiiting
a vestibule formed by a screen which may have had a
gallery above. In the south wall, about lo ft. from
the east end, is a newel stair leading to the rood-loft,
the lower and upper doorways of which remain. ^^
The original flat-pitched roof is of three bays with
moulded principals, each bay divided into eight com-
partments by moulded ribs. There are remains of
colour in the eastern bay. Covering
the south-west doorway inside is a
small oak screen dated 1636. The
floor is boarded and the walls
plastered. Tlie building was re-
stored in 1914-15 and is now used
as a choir vestry and practice
room.
The remains of the College
buildings, which have long been
in a ruinous condition,*' stand in
the main street, now called College
Street, some little distance north-
west of the church. The buildings
formed a closed quadrangle of the
usual collegiate type, but little
remains beyond the front of the
gatehouse in the east range facing
the street, and a portion of the
south range, still roofed, in which L_-""_r_"Z]
the chapel was situated; the other 13 151!! CENTURY
ranges have disappeared.*'' The
buildings were of two stories, faced
with rubble, and what remains is
of 15th-century date. The south
range, which face* on to a narrow
lane, is in use as a farm house, but it has been much
altered from lime to time and many of its architectural
features destroyed.** It has an eaved roof with coped
end gables, the original one at the east end forming
part of the main elevation of the college towards the
street, in the same plane with the gatehouse. In
Bridges' time the ruins of the north range were still
visible,** and Buck's view (1729) shows the walls
standing to a height of some 6 ft. or 7 ft. ;*' it also
shows the east front extending its full length and
considerable remains of the west range, which appears
to have contained the hall.** The quadrangle was
about 15 yds. square,*' and was entered from the east
through a moulded four-centred archway still stand-
ing, with square label and quatrefoiled circles con-
taining blank shields in the spandrels. Above the
arch are three tall canopied niches, now empty, but
which probably contained statues of the three patron
saints of the college, and a square-lieadcd window of
three cinqucfoiled lights with moulded jambs and label.
The canopies of the niches break through a string
at sill-level, now carried along the whole elevation,
but originally stopping at the junction of the east
and south ranges. The outer wall of the east range
stands its full height and contains also a two-light
square-headed window'^" in the upper story, and a
single-light window in the ground floor.''* The
extent of the existing east wall north of the south
range is 36 ft., and the whole length of the clevalioa
to College Street 59 ft. The chapel was in the eastern
portion of the south range and was probably about
illj Entrance
II ?■ ^-'ATEWAy
IT
1(3
EiHl Subsequent
□ Modern
Scale of Feet
Plan of Hicham Ferrers College
46 ft. long, with a width of 17 ft. 6 in., entered from
the quadrangle at the north-west through a pointed
doorway with square label, which still exists. It was
lighted at the east end by a large five-light window
now blocked, part of the crockcted hoodmould of
which, with its linial, still remains above a recon-
structed two-light window afterwards inserted in the
gable. Two large heads, or corbels, which flanked
the window outside are still in their original positions,
as are also two carved image-brackets inside. The
window appears to have been about 12 ft. wide and
its sill about 7 ft. above the floor, but it had been
blocked before Bridges' time and a large fireplace and
chimney built in front of it, the chapel having been
converted into a kitchen.^* At the time this was
done the east end of the south range assumed its
** These windows, long blocked, have
been reopened and glazed, with wooden
shutters behind the glass.
*' The doorways arc four-centred with
continuous mouldings. The sill of the
upper doorway is 8 ft. above the floor.
"They were so described by Bridges
at the beginning of the fSth century,
when the building was an inn with the
sign of the Saracen's Head : Hiit.
Noribanii. ii, 17S.
" The south end of the east range, as
far as the gateway, is shown roofed in
Bucli's drawing, 1729.
" It was restored in 1914, when the
west wall and part of the south wall
adjoining were rebuilt and the thatched
roof replaced by one of Colleyweston
slates. The south range originally ex-
tended further westward.
" Op. cit. ii, 178.
" The doorways stood their full
height.
^* The drawing shows the lower part of
three large windows high above the ground
in the west wall. " Bridges, op. cit. ii, 178.
'° Buck's drawing shows a corresponding
two-light window, now destroyed, north
of the entrance.
■' A modern lintel doorway has been
inserted between this window and the
entrance.
" Op. cit. ii, 178. This may have
been done in the 17th century. "The top
of the chimney was removed from the
apex of the gable in 1914.
265
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
present aspect, the gatehouse stringcourse being
continued to the angle of the building. The north
wall of the chapel has been so much repaired that the
positions of any windows or other features which it
may have contained cannot now be traced. High in
the south wall is a reconstructed two-light window,
and another at the west end of the north wall beyond
the chapel, with two single-light windows below on
the ground floor. The position of the eastern wall
of the west range can be traced, but no portion of
the structure itself remains.^' A fragment of walling
containing a 15th-century doorway forms the inner
dividing wall of a cow-shed to the north-west of the
college buildings.^
The names of Newland, St. Botolph's Street and
Botolph End survived from the 14th and 15th cen-
turies^ to the l8th,2* and the town records of 1488
mention ' Le Shoprowe,'^ where more than 160 years
earlier the eight butchers' stalls, valued at 100;. and the
eight shops leased to the linen merchants for 48/.,
probably stood.^* Shops and stalls situated in the
market place of Higham Ferrers were leased to the
mayor by Richard III in 1485, when the King under-
took to provide flags or sedges for their roofing from
his meadow called ' le Middell Wroo.'^ The ap-
pointment of an examiner of leather about seventy
years later*' shows the burgesses already engaged in
one of their two chief trades of the present day,'i the
other the manufacture of boots and shoes, well estab-
lished by the middle of the last century'^ and now
employing a still larger proportion of the working
population.^ In the reign of Elizabeth a meadow,
known as the Tradesmen's or Craftsmen's meadow,
was let by the reeve of the manor to the poor crafts-
men of Higham Ferrers for [j 8j. dd. a year,^ a rent
which before the middle of the following century had
been increased to £zi.^
The London Midland and Scottish Railway has
two stations in the parish, one in the town, the
terminus of the Higham Ferrers branch, the other,
called Irthlingborough, a mile to the north on the
Northampton and Peterborough branch.
Amongst the many other place names of the town
and parish which have vanished from present-day
maps are Britwinescote of the 13th, the ' litill,'
' mydill ' and ' grete Wroo,' ' Chapcllhyll, ' Thwert-
lond ' of the 15th, the ' neastcs pasture,' ' St. Edeses-
waie,' ' Northbury close ' of the l6th, ' Every yearcs
land,' 'Gunsticks,' ' Hancrosse field,' ' Buric close,'
' le Gore ' by ' Skinners close,' ' Buscot,'^ ' Flcxland '
of the 17th century, whilst ' W'armanshill ' survives
from 1649 as Warmonds Hill in the south-west of the
town.
In 1556 the men of Higham Ferrers were especially
commended for their loyalty displayed in the late
rebellion.^'
Higham Ferrers has gained renown as the birth-
place Oi Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury
from 1414 to 1443, who was born about the year
1362^ and probably educated at the grammar school
under Henry Barton. Of his benefactions to his
Chicheley. Or a
cheveron benveen three
citujfoils guUs.
RuDD. Azure a lion
argent and a quarter or.
native town a full account has been given in an
earlier volume with details of his family^ which was
of considerable importance in the parish from the 14th
to the 17th century.''*
Less general but perhaps more personal interest
is attached to the best known member of another
old and well-reputed family of this town, Captain
Thomas Rudd, a distinguished engineer and mathe-
matician, whose memorial tablet in the parish church
describes him as the sixth of that name by descent
since his ancestors came to Higham Ferrers to dwell.*^
It was perhaps on account of his loyalty to Charles I,
whose chief engineer he became in i640,''2 that his
election as mayor that year was strongly opposed by
some of his fellow burgesses'*' and in the days of
the Commonwealth he was sequestered and heavily
fined.'*' Later in the 17th century Bunyan is said
to have been accustomed to preach in a small Bap-
tist chapel afterwards used as a coal house.** The
town has now both Baptist and Wesle)an chapels.
Higham Ferrers Castle was one of the
CASTLE baronial castles built shortly after the
Conquest, probably by one of the two
Peverels. Little is known of its history apart from its
connexion with a series of distinguished owners
whose succession followed that of the manor (q.v.).
It is referred to in 1298 and 1327** as the capital
messuage and passed as the castle in the grant to
Aylmer de \'alcnce in 1322.*' Payments for castle
guard were made as late as 1694.*' It stood north
of the parish church. Leland describes it as ' now
of late clenc fallen and taken down,'*' and in 1610
John Norden found it 'altogether ruinate.'*" The three
'• Buclc'i view ihowt the lower part of
three window* in what wai then an
incloiing wall on thii tide.
•♦ Poiiibly belonging to a dovehouie
ihown in Buck's view in this position.
»//i«. MSS. Com. Rfp. xii, App. 9,
PP- 5T,33-
•♦ Bridges, loc. cif.
" Ibid.
•• Chan
Inq
p.m. Edw.
in, file
m. 24.
••Misc.
Bks.
(Duchr
of
Lane.)
(ol. lood.
«> //«(.
MSS.
Com.
loc.
cit
P- 534-
" Census iryi
.
"V.C.II. Norihanli. a, 326.
•' Census 1921.
" Pari. Surv. (Duchy of Lane.) 55.
" Ibid. 54. P.Trl. Surv. Norlhants. 33.
'• ' The BuBcotts ' was one of the open
fields of Higham I*"crrers inclosed in 1800.
•' Pat. R. 2 and 3 Phil, and M. pt. 8, m.
17-
'• Dean Hook, L$vet of the Archbishops
of Canterbury, i, 129.
" y.C.H. Northanls. ii, 177-79, 218-19.
" Ihst. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, App. 9,
PP- 53'>-3' i P"'- R- * ""d 3 ''•''I- '"J M.
pt. 8, m. 27 ; Northanls. N. and Q.
i, 142.
266
" Cole, Hist, of Higham Ferrers,
58-60 i D. N. B.
" Cal. S. P. Dom. 1640-41, pp. Ii6,
329.
" S. P. Dom. Chas. I, ccccUx, 38.
" Cal. Com. for Comp. i, 88 j ii, 1534,
" Cole, op. cit. 94.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 81 ;
Edw. Ill, file 6, m. 24.
" Pat. R. k; Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 23.
" Ibid. 7 Will, and M. pt. 3, m. 2.
*• /(in. V, 94.
'" A Delineation of Norihamplonshiri :
' the foundations and ruyns doe declare
that it halh bin a place of some accompt.'
IIiGHAM Fkrrlks : The Bedi; House
Hicham Ferrers : The College
BOROUGH OF HICHAM FERRERS
wards covered practically the whole of the area lying
between the church and tiie Kimbolton road,^* the
site measuring about 380 yards from north to south,
and in breadth varying from 180 yards at the north
end to 140 yards near the church. On the east it was
bounded by the Bury Close. The early castle stood at
the north end of this area, but no trace of a motte or its
defending ditch having been found, it has been sur-
mised that the llth century stronghold was of the
' keep-and-bailev ' type.'- Two arms of the ditch and
the corresponding ramparts still remain, the eastern
arm in its entirety, about 485 feet long, and the
southern arm in part,'* but of the keep or other build-
ings nothing has survived. There is reason to believe
that the buildings mentioned in the bailiff's account
of 1313-14 and in later manorial accounts of the
same century, were at the south end of the sitc,'^ but
the location of the various places named cannot be
determined. There is occasional mention of the draw-
bridge, and the House of the Drawbridge is also
referred to.** There were two outer gates, that on the
west known also as the Town gate, and that on the cast
as the Field gate. There is also mention of the Middle
gate, the Great gate under the Lord's Chamber, and
the small postern gate near the churchyard. The
chapel is referred to in 1375," and early in the ne.xt
century its roof was releaded and the floor repaired.
Extensive repairs of the buildings were going on from
1429 to 1432, when the ' turret at the north end of
the chapel ' is mentioned." One of the chapel
windows contained the king's and queen's arms and
an image of St. Edmund.** The Great Hall was
destroyed by fire in 1409-10, but was rebuilt a year
or two later." In 143 1 the stairs from the door of the
Hall to the chapel were repaired, and in 1433 the Town
gate was partly rebuilt. The Lord's Chamber, ' Lady
Philippa's Chamber,' the Young Lord's Chamber,*"
and several other places are named in 1376, and in a
later account ' Lord Derby's Chamber.'*' There are
also frequent references to the knights' chamber,
the friars' chamber, the steward's, receiver's, and
auditor's chambers, tlie treasury chamber,'^ and the
kitchen, larder, buttery, pantry and other offices.*' In
1462-3 the kitchen was re-roofed and partly rebuilt.
Other references are to the stables,** the great barn,
the granary, the hay-house, ox-house, cattle-sheds,
sheep-house, and kiln-house.*' During the last decade
of the 15th century and the early years of the l6th, the
castle buildings suffered from neglect and were de-
scribed as 'all rased and in great ruin and decay'
in 1523, when Sir Richard W'ingfield was licensed by
the King to take down and carry away as much stone
from the site as he thought sufficient for the re-
building of the castle of Kimbolton.** In 1591 it was
reported that the manor-house, long since in decay,
had been in ancient times a castle standing in a place
called the Castle Yard.*' This appears to have been
the capital messuage or manor place commonly called
the Castle Yard which the Parliamentary Commis-
sioners found in the tenure of Thomas Rudd in
1649.**
In the garden of the Green Dragon Inn, formerly
within the area of the outer ward of the castle, are the
remains of a rectangular dove-house.*'
The Lordship of Higham existed
LORDSHIP as a territorial entity before the Con-
quest. We learn from the Domesday
Survey (1086) that Gitda had held the manor and its
appendages in 1066. Possibly at one time the whole
hundred belonged to Gitda's predecessors in title, but
in 1086 William Pevcrel held in Higham Ferrers
6 hides and as members of the manor he had in
Rushden 6 hides, in Chelveston and Caldecote I hide
and 3 virgates, in Knuston I hide and ij virgate, in
Irchester I hide and 3 virgates of soke [land], in
Farndish 3 virgates of soke [land], in Poddington (co.
Beds.) i hide of soke [land], in Easton Mauduit ij-
virgate and in Raunds 7J hides and J virgate of soke
[land].'" There were also in Bozeat ij virgate and
in Hargrave J hide, the soke of which belonged to
Higham Ferrers.'* Fractions of knights' fees were
held of the manor of Higham Ferrers in the following
places: Bozeat, Irchester, Raunds, Blisworth, Rush-
den, Quinton, Denton, Ditchford, Caldecote and
Chelveston, Ringstead, Stanwick, Chester near
Irchester, Hargrave, and Farndish.'*
Higham Ferrers was held in the time
MANOR of Edward the Confessor by Gitda or
Githa, whom Mr. Round has identified
as the wife of Earl Ralf of Hereford, a nephew of
Edward the Confessor. It passed after the Conquest
to William Peverel," said, but with little authority,
to have been an illegitimate son of the Conqueror. He
was a baron of the Cotentin and a famous general and
trusted minister of King William. In 1086 Peverel
had in Higham Ferrers 6 hides, whereof two were in
demesne, a market, a mill and a considerable quantity
of woodland. There was then a priest, indicative of a
" Rev. W. J. B. Kerr, Higbam Ferren
and III Ducal and Royal Caslle and Park
(1925), 100.
"Ibid. 102. Mr. Kerr wa> of opinion
that the lile of the keep was where there
ii now ' a deep annular depretsion,'
about 60 ft. in diameter, the appearance
of which luggeitcd to him that it was
' caused by the removal of the foundations
of a massive round tower ' : ibid. 115.
" Ibid. 102. A length of about 340 ft.
remains open : the original length cannot
have been more than 420 ft. The width
of the east arm at mean w-inter water
level is about 42 ft., and at the surface
level of the counterscarp 72 ft. The
height of the rampart above the natural
surface level does not exceed 10 ft., but
it has been flattened out into a broad
terrace or platform.
" Ibid. 103.
•' ' The new tower beside the draw-
bridge ' is mentioned in an early account
of the reign of Edward IV : ibid. 104.
*• The windows, which had been broken
by a great wind, were then repaired :
ibid. 107.
" Ibid. 108.
" Ibid.
" The auditor's accounts show that
a sum of ,^204 IIS. 3d. was expended on
the rebuilding of the Hall in 1410, ,^56
in 141 1, and ^65 15*. \d. in 1412. A stone
tower was erected over the great gate
of the Hall : ibid. 108-9 ; ^a/. Pat.
1408-13, p. 108.
•° After the passing of the Duchy of
Lancaster to the Crown the Lord's
Great Chamber and the Lady's Chamber
became respectively the King's and
Queen's Chambers : ibid. III.
•' Ibid. no.
" Probably identical with the ' checour-
hous ' mentioned in 1416 : ibid. 112.
" Scullery, sauccry, chaunderye, ewery,
cellar, wine-cellar, storehouse, and bake-
house : ibid. 112.
" The steed stable, the long stable
beside the east gate, the long stable near
the town, the steward's stable, the
receiver's stable, the auditor's stable, and
the friars' stable: ibid. 118.
"Ibid. 119.
" Ibid. 122 ; Duchy of Lane. Misc.
Bks. 22, fol. 62b.
•' Ibid. 117, fol. 190.
•' Pari. Surv. Northants. no. 32.
•• Alloc. Arch. Soc. Rep!, xxxiii, 369.
The internal dimensions are 36 ft. by
16 ft. 10 in. : the west and two end walls
stand about 1 1 ft. high.
'• y.C.H. Northanti. i, 336-7.
" Ibid. 338.
" See Farrer, Honors and Knigbis' Fees,
i, 201-6.
'» y.C.H. Northants. i, 289, 336A.
267
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
church.''* William Peverel died in 1114'^ and was
succeeded by his son William, who was a strong sup-
porter of King Stephen. He was taken prisoner at
the Battle of Lincoln in 1 141, when his lands were
forfeited but were restored to him in 1 143. In 1 153
Henry Fitz Empress granted to Ranulf Earl of Chester,
on condition of his support, great possessions, in-
cluding aU the fee of William Peverel, except
Higham." The grant never took effect, but some
nine months later Ranulf Earl of Chester died, poi-
soned, it is said, by WiUiam Peverel. On the accession
of Henry to the throne as Henry H, Peverel, to avoid
punishment, became a monk, probably at Lenton
(co. Notts.). His lands were seized by Henry H in
1 155" and Higham Ferrers was for a year and a half
farmed by Froger, archdeacon of Derby.'* In 1157 it
was granted, probably for life, to Robert de Ferrers,
second Earl of Derby, who had married Margaret,
daughter and heir of William Peverel, her brother
Henry being then apparently dead.'^ After the
death of Robert in or about 1159, Higham Ferrers
was granted in 1 161 to WiUiam, the King's brother,
who died in 1164.** The manor remained in the
King's hands until 1 189, when King Richard I
granted it to his brother, John Count of Mortain.^i
John farmed it to William de Sancte Marie
Ecclesia,*- later Bishop of London,*' and after-
wards to WiUiam Briwerre.** In 1199 WiUiam de
Ferrers, fourth Earl of Derby, son of WiUiam
and grandson of Robert, second Earl of Derby,
purchased for 2,000 marks from King John the
manor, hundred and park of Higham Ferrers and cer-
tain other lands, at the same time relinquishing what
claim he had through his grandmother, Margaret
Peverel, to the other lands of WiUiam Peverel.**
William de Ferrers died in 1247 and was succeeded by
his son William fifth Earl of Derby. As a favourite
at the Court of Henry III he received many grants
of privileges, including the right to free warren in
Higham Ferrers in 124S, a yearly fair in 1250 and the
erection of a borough in 1251.**
He died in 1254 and was succeeded by his son
Robert sixth Earl of Derby, then under age and in the
custody of Edward, the King's son. He came of age
in 1260, when he joined the Baronial party. In 1264
he was sent to the Tower and his lands were seized by
the King, but in the following year he was pardoned
on paying a heavy fine. A few months later, how-
ever, he again joined the rebel forces and was taken
prisoner at Chesterfield in 1266 and his lands were
a second time taken into the King's hands.*' In
the same year Henry III granted all the Earl's pos-
sessions to his son, Edmund Earl of Chester, who
was created Earl of Lancaster in the following year.**
Under the Dictum of Kenilworth Robert de Ferrers
could redeem his lands on payment of seven years' pur-
chase, and he evidently made an attempt to regain
them, for in 1269 Edmund was ordered to restore
them.*' An .igreement was reached whereby Edmund
and his heirs were to hold the estates until Robert
should pay the sum of ^^50,000 for their redemption.'*'
Although Robert and his son John de Ferrers made
several attempts to obtain possession of their patri-
mony they never succeeded.
Edmund Earl of Lancaster died seised of Higham
Ferrers in 1296.*! His son and heir Thomas Earl of
Lancaster, being taken prisoner at the Battle of
Boroughbridge, was beheaded in 1322 when his lands
mm
\A7T7
Ferrers, fairy or and
gules.
Lancaster. Enghiiid
with a label of France.
were seized by tlie Crown.*^ Higham Ferrers was then
granted to Aylmer de Valence Earl of Pembroke'*
who died in 1324''' and his widow, Mary de St. Pol,
exchanged her rights here for other lands.'* On the
accession of Edward III in 1327 Henry, brother and
heir of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, was restored and
was succeeded in 1 345 by his son Henry who was
created Duke of Lancaster in 1 35 1. He died on 24
March, 1360-1, leaving two daughters, Maud, the
elder, who married firstly, Ralf Earl of Stafford, and
secondly, William Duke of Bavaria, but died child-
less in 1362 ; Blanche, the younger daughter, at the
age of eleven became the first wife of John of Gaunt
son of Edward III. The manor of Higham Ferrers
seems to have been settled on Blanche," who at her
sister's death became sole heir to her father's great
estates. In 1362 John of Gaunt was created Duke of
Lancaster. Blanche died in 1369 and John in 1399
when he was succeeded by their son Henry of Boling-
broke who later in that year ascended the throne as
Henry IV when the lands of the Duchy of Lan-
caster, including Higham Ferrers, merged in the
Crown. Higham Ferrers is still part of the Duchy of
Lancaster," although it was included in the jointures
of the Queens Consort of Edward IV, Charles I,
Charles II and James II.'*
Lands in Higham Ferrers forfeited to the Crown
on the attainder of Francis Lord Lovel of Tichmersh,
after the battle of Bosworth were granted by
" y.C.H. Nortbanti. i, 336A.
'* Complete Peerage (New Ed.), iv, 762.
'* Cott. Chart, xvii, 2.
" Ibid.
'• Hunter, Great Roll of the Pipe
(Rec. Com.), 42 ; Red Ull. of Excheq.
(Rolli Scr.)ii, 681.
'• Complete Peerage^ loc. clt.
'° Farrcr, op. cit. i, 203.
" Hunter, Great Roll of the Pipe
(Rec. Com.), p. 97.
•• Fjrrcr, loc. cit.
•■ D. N. B.
" Farrer, loc. cit.
" Fine R. i John, m. 23 ; Hardy,
Rot. de Oblal. et Fm. p. 3 ; Pipe R.
I John, m. 2d.
"• Cal. Chart. 1226-57, pp. 332, 350,
" Complete Peerage (New Ed.), iv, 198,
203.
"' Cal. Pat. 1266-72, p. 22, 127.
" Ibid. p. 336.
•° Coram Rcge R. Mich. 2 and 3 Edw. I,
m. 6. Tiic Countcia of Derby »ccnii to
have held Higham in 1275, probably ai
dower ; Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.) il, 4, 10.
" Cal. Inq. Edw. I, iii, no. 423.
268
" Abhrev. Rot. Orii>. i, 264 j Cal.
Fine R. iii, 105.
" Cal. Pat. 1321-4, pp. 87, 113.
" Cal. Inq. vi, no. 518.
"■Cal. Pal. 1327-30, p. 37; 1334-8,
p. 250; 1338-40, p. 242; Cal. Clou,
1327-30, p. 109.
w Feet of F. Div. Coi. V.:iU. 35 Edw. Ill,
no. 78 j Ca/. /'<«. 1361-4, p. 118.
•' /hti Priv. and I.or. 1 Vict. cap. II.
•" Feet of F. Div. Co«. Trin. 15 Edw. IV,
no. 102, ; I'at. R. 5 Chas. I, pt. 15, no. 6j
24 Cha>. II, pt. 9, no. I ; I Jaa. II, pt. 17,
no. I.
BOROUGH OF HIGHAM FERRERS
Henry VII to Sir Charles Somerset, afterwards Lord
Herbert and Earl of Worcester,"* in i486,' and in-
cluded by him in a settlement of ISH-'* Ten years
later he left them to his son George' who in 1553
joined liis grandson William third Earl of Worcester
in obtaining licence to alienate them to Gilbert
Pykering and others.''
A payment of one mark to F.lias the doorkeeper
for the carriage of summonses in the years 1166-67
AAAA
AATLA
a/wi
Vuny
LovEL of Tichmersh.
Barry tvavy or and
gtdes.
S o M I R s E T. France
quartered zutth England
i« a border goboiiy argrnt
and azure.
and 1169-70* had developed at the close of the cen-
tury into the serjeanty of Ascelin and Andrew of
Higham who then held three virgates of land, valued
at lis., for the service of carrying the writs of the
honour of Higham. In 1235-36 their successor
Nicholas the Serjeant collected scutage from the fee
of Earl Ferrers in Northamptonshire.' Four acres
'in every yeareland called Serjeants peece,' which
belonged to the manor of Higham in 1 691 were
probably once part of this fee.'
The land in Higham Ferrers which formed part of
the endowment of the college' was included in the
grant of the advowson (q.v.) to Robert Dacres but
the college house itself remained in the Crown until
1564 when Elizabeth granted to John Smith and
FJchard Dufiield the site of the college with all
buildings, etc., within the site and the orchard or
close called SafTron Yard containing 2\ acres. The
bells and all lead of the gutters and windows were
reserved to the Queen.'
A mill, rendering las. on William Peverel's manor
in 1086,*" was possibly the mill of Dichford, for
which as the third of a knight's fee scutage was paid
in 1235-36I' and was on the site of the mill in which
Simon de Cotes held the twenty-fifth part of a knight's
fee of Prince Edmund,'^ who at his death in 1298
was seised of three watermills in Higham Ferrers.''
The mill or mills of Dichford and the ' mill by Higham '
of the 14th and 15th centuries" had been replaced
before 1505 by three watermills under one roof
called Dichford mills and three others also under
one roof called Higham mills.'"' The ' Higham and
Dichford mills ' were an appurtenance of the royal
manor of Higham Ferrers when it was settled in
trust for the Queen in 1672.'°
A fishery which belonged to the three watermills of
1298 was called thirty years later a fishery in the
Nene. In the reign of Charles I the fishing of Stan-
wick Mcer in the None was one of the appurtenances
of the manor." Free warren, granted to William
de Ferrers in 1248"* and enjoyed by his successors,"
was amongst the libenies for which Henry Earl of
Lancaster was called upon to produce his warrant
in 1329. At the same time he had to make good his
claim to use gallows, pillory and tumbrel and hold
the assize of bread and ale as his predecessors had
done.-"
Courts, leet and baron, pleas and perquisites of
court and view of frank-pledge are amongst the
appurtenances of the manor of Higham Ferrers
recorded from the 13th to the latter part of the 17th
century.-'
As early as 1086 Higham was an
BOROUGH important town with its market
valued at 20/. a year.'^^ It thus re-
mained until the middle of the 13th century, when
William de Ferrers fifth Earl of Derby took an
interest in developing its prosperity. We are told
that when crossing St. Neots Bridge he had a fall
from his litter in which he usually travelled, being a
sufferer from gout.-' It may be possible that he was on
his way to or from Higham Ferrers, where he seems
to have resided occasionally, and in which he had a
special interest. In 1248 he acquired the right of
free warren over his lands there, and in 1250 he ob-
tained a grant of a fair there on the vigil, day and
morrow of the feast of St. Botolph (17 June).^^ On
the feast of St. Gregory (12 March) 1251 the earl
manumitted 92 of his villein tenants of Higham
Ferrers^^ and enfranchised their offspring {sequeles)
lands, tenements and chattels, granting that their
lands in future should be held in free burgage.^*
Thus Higham became a free borough. This charter,
which was confirmed by Henry HI in the same year,
is interesting and unusual in giving the names of
those who became the first burgesses and were pro-
moted from a servile status to the freedom of bur-
gesses.
This charter had disappeared from the borough
archives when in 1556 Philip and Mary bestowed
another on the town, and in their preamble spoke of
its loss through lack of safe custody or by ill chance.
All former liberties were confirmed and Higham
Ferrers was declared a free borough which with
mayor, seven aldermen and thirteen chief burgesses
•• Complete Peerage (New Ed.), viii, 200.
' Cat. Pal. 1485-1494, p. 100.
• Feet of F. Div. Cos. East. 5 Hen. VIII,
no. 4.
• Coll. Top. et Gen. v, 305.
• Pat. R. 7 Edw. VI, pt. 6, mm. 8, 9 ;
Feet of F. Div. Cos. Mich, i Mary ;
Recov. R. Trin. 7 Edw. VI, ro. 516.
In the two latter documents these lands
are called a manor.
^ Ptpe Roll, 13 Hen. II, p. 114; 15
Hen. II, p. 73 (Pipe R. Soc).
• Book of Fees, i, 9, 495.
' Add. Chart. 13593.
• V.C.H. Nertbanu. ii, 177-179.
»P.it. R. 6 Ellz. pt. 7, no. II.
'» y.C.n. Northann. i, 336A.
" Ilk. oj Fees, i, 495.
** Feud. Aids, iv, 14.
" Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 81.
'« Ct. R. (Duchy of Lane.) bdle. 10;,
no. 1496, m. 6; Pat. R. 3 Hen. V,
pt. 2, m. 36.
"Misc. Bks. (Duchy of Lane.) 21,
fol. 157.
'« Pat. R. 24 Chas. II, pt. 9.
" Rent, and Surv. (Duchy of Lane.)
bdlc. 8, no. 4.
" Cat. Chart. 1226-1257, p. 332.
" Pat. R. 31 Chas. II, pt. 3, no. 13.
269
'» Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.),
580.
" Cal. Inq. Edw. I, iii, no. 423 ;
Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.) 580 ;
Pari. Surv. Northants. 5 ; Pat. R.
31 Chas. II, pt. 3, no. 13 ; 7 Will, and M.
pt. 3, no. 2.
" y.C.H. Northants. i, 337.
" Matth. Paris, Chron. Mag. (Rolls
Ser.) V, 431-2.
" Cal. Chart. 1226-1257, pp. 332, 350.
'^ That they were of servile tenure is
shown by the use of the word sequeles,
which is not used in the case of freemen,
" Chart. R. 36 lien. Ill, m. 25.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
was to form a body corporate and politic for ever.
The corporation thus constituted was empowered
to plead and be impleaded, make statutes and ordi-
nances, use their own seal and make perambulations
in the borough of which the boundaries already
existing were confirmed. Regulations for the elec-
tion of the mayor and his associates were followed by
nomination of the first body of these officers under
this charter. By the grant of markets and fairs with
their profits and court of pie-powder, the sovereigns
relinquished ancient appurtenances of the manor, as
probably they also did by the establishment of a
court of record for pleas within the borough not
Seal of the
Borough of Higham Ferrers.
A device of a hand stretched horizon-
tally in blessing above nine human
beads all looking inwards.
exceeding ^5, to be held every Monday in a common
hall, and by giving ' lawedaies ' and view of frank-
pledge. The nomination of the chaplain, school-
master and beadsmen of the college of Higham
Ferrers was now transferred from the Crown to the
corporation.^
A fresh charter granted by James I in 1604 em-
powered every mayor of Higham Ferrers for the time
being to be justice of the peace and also justice for
the preservation of the statutes of artificers and
labourers, and weights and measures, and freed
mayor, aldermen and burgesses from service on assize,
jury or inquisition whilst resident in the borough.
They were besides to have return of assizes and all
other royal writs and no sheriff, bailiff or other foreign
minister of the Crown was allowed to enter the
borough for the return or execution of writs. A
general confirmation of all privileges, liberties and
franchises accorded by former incorporations fol-
lowed.^
In 1664 the mayor and corporation of Higham
Ferrers petitioned the king for the renewal of their
charter with certain alterations of which the most
important was the extension of the money limit of
their power to hold pleas from ^5 to £\o.''^ This
and other proposed changes which concerned the
fairs and markets were embodied in the new charter
of -August 1664 after a confirmation in general terms
of the ancient liberties of the borough. It was also
provided that the court of record should be held
before the mayor, two aldermen, two chief burgesses
and the steward of the borough and parish of Higham
Ferrers.*"
Within twenty years Higham Ferrers had followed
the example of other boroughs by surrendering its
charters to the Crown, and obtained their renewal in
letters patent issued in February 1684. This
charter also was confirmatory, embodying the early
clauses of the charter of 1556, and in it too the
mayor, aldermen and burgesses were nominated.
Henceforth the corporation was to have its own
recorder, the Earl of Peterborough being appointed
to this new office for life. Another change was the
nomination, also for life, of Goddard Pemberton, who
headed the list of aldermen, as justice of the peace.
The election of the successors of both these officers
was vested in the mayor and corporation, and the
number of fairs was reduced to one.**
The old corporation of Higham Ferrers was ex-
tinguished by the Municipal Corporation Act of 1882
which at the same time provided for the grant of
new charters of incorporation. Accordingly, on the
petition of certain inhabitant householders of the
parish of Higham Ferrers, the Committee of the Privy
Council formulated a scheme called ' The Borough
of Higham Ferrers Scheme ' by which a municipal
borough was created in place of the old corporation.
All property which had been vested in the mayor
and his fellow burgesses by right of their office was
now transferred to the new governing body, which
became the sanitary authority in place of the Welling-
borough Union, with charge of the town well, town
pump and sewers. The new charter was granted on
16 July 1887.32
The burgesses held Higham Ferrers of the Crown
as of the Duchy of Lancaster at a fee-farm rent,
which between 1504 and 1515 amounted to
j^l8 12;. I (/.,** in the reign of Queen Elizabeth to
X'5 '9'- 5J'/-,*'and in 1649 to_^i6 a year.** ' Borough
rents ' of the annual value of ^^19 %s. 2^d. were referred
to in the settlement of the manor on Queen Catherine
wife of Charles II.** From a suit brought early in
the i6th century by one Thomas Giles of Higham
Ferrers against Robert Pypwell, then mayor, it appears
that this tax was collected from the king's tenants
of the Duchy of Lancaster in the town who were
responsible for the good repair of their tenements.*^
Any man failing in this duty after due warning by
the mayor was liable to ejection by his successor
should twelve lawful burgesses of the town testify
that his tenement was still in decay. The descendants
of William dc Ferrers' enfranchised tenants enjoyed
free burgage as an hereditary right, and the earliest
record preserved in the Town Hall of Higham Ferrers,
•' Pat. R. 2 and 3 Phil, and M. pi. 8,
m. 27. In connexion with the laat
cUuie it ii noteworthy that about eighty
ytari later Laud'i vicar-general found the
poiieiiioni of the College much improved
•ince they came into the handi of the cor-
poration [S. P. Oom. Chai. I, cccx, ijj.
'" Pat. R. I Jai. I, pt. 4, ra. 25 ; Col.
S. P. Dom. 1^03-10, p. 129.
" S. P. Dom. Chai. II, «cix, 46, 46 (1) ;
Entry Bk. i6, p. 172 ; 18, p. 62.
•» Pat. R. 16 Chai. II, pt. 14, no. I.
" Ibid. 36 Chai. II, pt. 6, no. 24.
"Act Fnv. and Lcc. 49 and 50 Vict.,
270
cap. 58 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xii,
App- 9, p. S3''-
"Early Chan. Proc. bdlc. 317, no. 57.
" Rent, and .Surv. porlf. 13, no. 33.
" Pari. Surv. Northanti. no. 32.
•• Pat, R. 24Chal. II, pt. 9.
" Early Chan. Proc. loc. cit.
.:' "^,
3
t
F
mmmX)
^.v-'v
'^mrn^.
u
X
BOROUGH OF HIGHAM FERRERS
the roll of the borough court, ' Curia Burgi ' or
' Halmote ' for 4 Edward I [1275-6] shows that their
survivors and heirs were already occupied with the
admission of new burgesses. At tlie same time they
were dealing with surrender of and admission to
property and ple.is of debt and trespass, and issuing
licences to brew.^ Jurisdiction in cases of breach
of the king's standard of weights and measures was
exercised here by the king's chief steward of the
Duchy of Lancaster in northern parts, by whom
in 1426 certain offenders were fined ' for the abuse
of their bushels,' the mayor being merely entrusted
with the custody of the faulty vessels until they were
rectified.'*
In 1 591 commissioners of the Duchy of Lancaster
found that the mayor and corporation of Higham
Ferrershad felons' goods and toll of passengersthrough
the town and other places in the Hundred,*" liberties
presumably of earlier date than 1556." A minor
privilege which the mayor and his associates claimed
to enjoy by charter in 1618 was that of having two
persons in the town to draw wine.^
Higham Ferrers had a mayor as early as 1377, from
which year a fairly complete list of these officers
might be drawn up from the borough rolls.*' The
15th century records of the Duchy of Lancaster
show the king and his servants dealing with the
mayor alone as the representative of the corpora-
tion,** and in the early years of the next century
Robert Pypwell, mayor, described the town as
incorporated ' by the name of Mayre and Com-
monalty' time out of mind.** The charter of 1556
fixed the Monday following St. Luke's day for the
annual election by the aldermen and chief burgesses
of an alderman as mayor, and entrusted the choice of
the thirteen chief burgesses to the seven aldermen. It
empowered the mayor to appoint a serjeant-at-mace
for the execution of processes, mandates and other
business of the borough, and, together with the
aldermen, to elect from year to year a Serjeant of the
borough, a bailiff, two constables and all other ser-
vants necessary to the corporation.** There was
already a steward of the borough, before whom a
new mayor was sworn upon his entrance into office.*'
To this body of officers, as has been stated above, a
recorder was added in 1684.** In 15QI, the mayor
was also serving as clerk of the market, coroner and
escheator.**
The incorporation of the borough in 1556 was
followed within two years by its representation in
the House of Commons, and from 1557-8 until its
disfranchisement in 1832 Higham Ferrers sent one
member to Parliament.'" The right of election
belonged to all inhabitants of the town who were
not receiving alms.**
From time to time Higham Ferrers, doubtless on
account of its connexion with the royal household
and the Duchy of Lancaster, was represented in
Parliament by men of rank and of importance in
political life. Such were Sir Christopher Hatton,
member in 1571, through whose influence when Lord
Chancellor, Richard, afterwards Sir Richard Swale,
president of Caius and a master in chancery, was
returned for Higham Ferrers to the Parliament of
1589. A later Sir Christopher, afterwards Baron,
Hatton,*'' steward of the manor of Higham Ferrers
in 1636, was representative of the borough in the
Long Parliament. He was one of those who were
returned in consequence of the exertions of Queen
Henrietta Maria to bring in her nominees as the
burgesses of the towns of her jointure.*' Other mem-
bers of parliament for this town distinguished as
statesmen and lawyers were, in 1601 , Henry Montagu,
afterwards Earl of Manchester, who succeeded Coke
as Chief Justice of the King's Bench and later became
Lord High Treasurer. In 1741 Henry Seymour
Conway was returned as member at the beginning of a
long career as soldier and politician ; Frederick
Montagu, member from 1768 to 1 790, became lord
of the treasury under the Marquis of Rockingham in
1782.** He was succeeded by John Lee, solicitor-
general in the same ministry.** Windham, secretary of
state and afterwards secretary for war under Pitt, was
returned for Higham Ferrers in 1807, and held the
seat until his death three years later. Names of
more local interest are those of Sir Thomas Dacres,
member in the parliament of 1625-26, and Sir Rice
Rudd, who represented Higham Ferrers from 1678 to
1681, and again in 1688-89. He was the grandson,
through his mother Judith, of Captain Thomas Rudd
and a native of Higham Ferrers.**
A manor called 'BOROUGH-HOLD' in the
l8th century*' was still in the possession of the mayor
and corporation in 1838, when its boundaries were
determined by Act of Parliament.** In 1874 this
property, which was vested in the new corporation
by the Act of 1886, was said to consist of 53 acres,
3 roods and 27 poles of land.*®
A market which had belonged to William PeverePs
manor in 1086, when it rendered 20/. a year,*" was
held weekly on Saturday in the 13th*! and 14th cen-
turies.*^
In 1485, Richard III leased the issues of the tolls
of the market and fairs of Higham Ferrers with all
shops and stalls situated in the market place,*' to
the Mayor and his successors for twenty years.**
The fair on the vigil, day and morrow of St. Botulph
(17 June) granted to William de Ferrers at his manor
of Higham Ferrers in 1250** and an appurtenance in
1298,** continued to be held in the following century
•• Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, a pp. 9,
p. 530.
"Ct. R. (Duchy of Lane.) bdlc. 105,
nos. 1496, 1498A.
«• Mi«c. Bk». (Duchy of Lane.) 117,
fol. 188.
" Thty are not mentioned in the
charter of Philip and Mary.
" Hisl. MSS. Com. Rep. iv, 314.
"Ibid, xii, app. 9, p. 531,
«« Ct. R. (Duchy of Lane.) bdle. 105,
no.i498A; Miic. Bk«. (Duchy of Lane.)
10, fol. locxl.
•'Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 317, no. 57.
" Pat. R. 2 & 3 Phil, and M. pt. 8, no. 27.
" Ibid ; ef. S. P. Dom. cccclxx, no. 38.
<» Pat. R. 36 Chai. II, pt. 6, no. 24.
"Misc. Bks. (Duchy of Lane.) 117,
fol. 188.
" V.C.H. Northanls. Genealosical Vol.
ii, 380.
" Bridgei, Hist. Nortbanti. ii, 170.
" D. N.B.
" S. P. Dom. Chaj. I, cccclxix, 11.
" n. N. B. " Ibid.
" Ibid ; Complete Baronetage^ ii, 64.
" Bridges, loc. cit.
" Priv. Act, I Vict. cap. 11.
271
'» Whellan, Hist. Norlbartts. 914.
"•V.C.H. Northants. i, 336*.
"Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 81.
The form of the stalls in the market also
belonged to the manor at this date.
•' Plac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.) 580.
•'These were probably on the sites of
the butchers' stalls and the eight shops
leased to merchants of linen in 1327
(Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. Ill, file 6, m. 24).
" Misc. Bks. (Duchy of Lane.) 20,
fol. lood.
•' Chart. R. 35 Hen. Ill, m. 13.
•• Chan. Inq. p.m. 26 Edw. I, file 81.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
after Thomas Earl of Lancaster had received the
grant of asecond at Michaelmas." Both were claimed
by his brother in 1327®* and their issues included in
the lease of Richard III. The markets granted by
Philip and Mary were held weekly on Monday and
Saturday.** In 1664 the Monday market, which had
fallen into disuse before 1649,'" was transferred to
Thursday and the Saturday market appropriated to
the sale of horses and cattle.'^ In the latter part
of the 1 8th centur)', the county historian wrote that
there were three weekly markets, on Monday, Thurs-
day and Saturday, the two former disused and the
third much decayed.'-
Four fairs granted in 1556 included the old-estab-
lished fairs of St. Michael and St. Botolph and two
newly appointed for the feasts of St. Katharine and
St. Matthias.'^ By the first charter of Charles II,
these were reduced to two, held on the Thursdays
next before the feasts of St. Philip and St. James
and of St. James the Apostle ;'* by the second to
one, for the sale of cattle and merchandise on the
Thursday before the feast of the Conversion of St.
Paul.'^ It is likely, however, that other fairs, not
authorised by this charter, continued to be held in
the town. In the 1 8th century there were seven,
described by the historian of Northamptonshire as
' all well accustomed,' on the Thursdays before the
feasts of the conversion of St. Paul, of St. Matthias,
of St. Philip and St. James, and of St. James the
Apostle, on the 17 June, at Michaelmas and on the
feast of St. Catherine.'* Five were held in 1838, on
the Thursdays before 12 May and 5 August, on
7 March, 28 June and 6 December," and also in 1874,
when the dates in March, August and December
remained unaltered, but the other two fairs had been
transferred to the Wednesday before 5 February and
the Thursday before 1 1 October.'^
The church of ST. MART THE
CHURCH VIRGIN consists of chancel, 46 ft. by
20 ft., clearstoried nave of four bays,
72 ft. by 19 ft. 6 in., north and south aisles, the
former terminating in a Lady Chapel and vestry on
the north side of the chancel, an additional north
aisle, 10 ft. 6 in. wide, south porch, and west tower,
15 ft. square, with lofty spire. The width of the
north aisle is the same as that of the nave, and the
chapel and vestry being equal in size to the chancel,
the plan of the building is somewhat unusual, the
internal effect being that of two naves of equal size
with corresponding chancels. The south aisle is
10 ft. 6 in. wide and the total width across nave and
aisles 69 ft. 3 in. All these measurements are internal.
No part of the church is earlier than the 13th cen-
tury, but a considerable portion of tlie building erected
in that period still remains, though altered in the
following century and later.
The existing chancel, nave, south aisle and tower
are substantially those of the 13th century fabric,
the aisles of which were equal in width, and though
later windows have been inserted and the aisle wall
rebuilt, the doorways, south nave arcade and other
architectural features remain unaltered. All this
work belongs to the first half of the 13th century
and was probably begun at the east end about 1220-25,
the tower being completed about 1 250. The first
change in the plan was about 1325-30, when the
north aisle was widened and the Lady chapel built in
its present form, the north nave arcade being then
taken down and the present one erected. The chapel
was probably built first and the aisle afterwards made
of the same width. The two arches which divide the
chapel from the chancel were cut through the 13th-
century wall, and at the same time new windows
were inserted in the chancel and south aisle and other
alterations made. With the exception of the priests'
doorway, the south nave arcade and the south door-
way, there is thus little original architectural work
recognisable east of the tower, though the plan
of the nave and chancel remains unchanged. The
alterations in the chancel were probably due to Law-
rence St. Maur, canon of Hereford (d. 1 338), whose
brass is now on the table tomb between the chancel
and chapel, but the tomb was constructed for a mem-
ber of the House of Lancaster as indicated by the
heraldry on the lower part ; a powdering of bees is
painted upon the canopy. Whether it was ever used
for its intended purpose is doubtful, as the actual
table tomb is of later date, but it is not unlikely that
the monument was erected by Henry, Earl of Lan-
caster (d. 1345) for himself, and that the Lady chapel
was added and the north aisle reconstructed at his
charges, he being the lord of the manor.'^
There is little difference in date between the north
arcade of the nave and that of the outer aisle : the
latter may be an addition a few years after the work
of reconstruction was completed, or it may have
merely been left until the end of the enlargement,
while the arcade may belong to its beginning. The
whole of the north side of the church, however,
appears to have been completed in its present form
by about 1 340, and may be considered as of one
build, the same plinth and stringcourse and the same
kind of dressed masonry being used both in the Lady
Chapel and the north aisle. The spire, as originally
built, was added about the same time, but the
clearstory belongs to thi; first half of the 15th century,
when low-pitclicd roofs behind parapets were erected
and two windows were inserted, one at the east end
of the south aisle, and the other at the west end of
the outer north aisle. In the 15th century, also,
Archbishop Chicheley no doubt erected the rood
screen and stalls, one of which bears his arms and
another those of the see of Canterbury. Other
screen work is of the same period.
In 1631-32 the spire and part of the tower were
rebuilt, following a collapse of the former, which
did great damage to the tower, since which time,
apart from restoration, the fabric has remained un-
•' Chart. R. 18 F.dw. I, m. ro.
•" /'/<?<-. de Quo irarr. fRcc. Com), 580.
" Pat. R. 2 & 3 Phil, and M. pt. 8,
m. 17.
'"Pari. Surv. Northant*. 31, m. z.
" Pat. R. ifi Chai. 11, pi. 14, no. i.
" liridic', "p. cit. ii, 170.
"Pal. R. 2 & 3 Phil, and M. pi, S,
m. 27.
" Ibid. 16 Ch-.tt. II, pt. 14, no. i.
" Ibid. 36 cli.!!. Il.pt. 6, no. 24.
'" MridRcs, loc. cit.
" John Cole, l/ist. and Anliq. of Iligham
Ferrrn, 119, 131, 136, 143, 158.
'* Whrll.in, Norlhnttts. 914.
"* If thi« theory, put forw.nrd by Prof.
Il.imilion 'I'hompflon, be ri^ht, the date
of the building of the ch.Tpcl and rccon-
272
Btnictlon of the .lisle would f.ill between
the dc.ith of 'riinni;i» I'..irl of Lancaster
in 1322 and the time when K.irl Henry
began to found the hoBpital at Leicester,
where he is buried. Ilis death would
check further work at Iligham Ferrers.
.Sir William Hope .ngrccd with this theory
about the date and purpose of the monu-
ment and chapel.
BOROUGH OF HIGHAM FERRERS
changed. A partial restoration in 1829 was followed
in 1857 by one of more general character, extending
over a period of years, during which time the south
arcade, porch and south aisle walls were rebuilt and
the roofs renewed.*** The rood loft and rood were
added to the screen in 1920 and an organ loft erected
in the Lady chapel."
The church, which is justly claimed as one of the
finest in the county, is set in very picturesque sur-
roundings, forming with the schoolliouse on the west,
churchyard cross, and vicar.age and bcdehousc on the
south side, an architectural group of more than usual
interest. The older walling is of rubble, the later
in coursed dressed stone, and all the roofs are of low
pitch, leaded, behind battlementcd"- parapets. Inter-
nally all the wall surfaces, e.xccpt tiiose of the tower,
are plastered. The roofs are modern.
The chancel has a 14th-century east window of
five trefoilcJ lights with reticulated tracery set within
13th-century shafted jambs, the greater part of the
original masonry remaining in the east wall. The
muUions*' and tracery are moulded and the arch has
a slight ogee with elaborate canopied niche above
breaking the battlemented parapet of the gable. In
the south wall are three tall ogee-!ieaded windows of
three trefoilcd lights with reticulated tracery, moulded
jambs, and labels with headstops, the chancel being
divided into three bays by two-stage 14th-century
buttresses added when the windows were inserted.
The 13th-century priests' doorway has a chamfered
trefoiled head beneath a pointed hoodmould, the
spandrels filled with a si.x-leaf flower, and moulded
rear arch. There is a rounded stringcourse at sill
level inside, and in the usual position in the south
wall a double piscina consisting of two fluted bowls
in plain rectangular recesses, the heads of which are
formed by the string. A projecting stone bench
6 ft. long, with shaped arms, at the west end takes
the place of the more usual individual sedilia, and in
the north wall is a plain triangular-headed aumbry.
The sanctuary floor, which had been unduly raised
in 1880, was lowered to its original level in 1923 :*■' the
space immediately east of the altar rail is paved with
medieval encaustic tiles of various patterns.'' The
western portion of the chancel is occupied by the
stalls and its floor is level with that of the nave. Of
the two 14th-century arches in the north wall, the
wider one at the west end is of two chamfered orders
and springs from half-octagonal responds with
moulded capitals ; the other, which is only about
8 ft. wide, forms the canopy of the tomb already
mentioned and is of three elaborately moulded orders
and embattled label on attached shafts with moulded
capitals and bases. The short length of masonry
between the arches is part of the original work and
retains the rounded string corresponding with that
opposite, but it is pierced by a small doorway to the
chapel.'* Further east is a second 14th-century
doorway opening to the vestry. There is no chancel
arch, nor arch between the north aisle and chapel,
both roofs being continuous.
The 13th-century south nave arcade is mostly of
dark ironstone, the arches of two chamfered orders
with labels on both sides, springing from piers com-
posed of four clustered shafts with moulded capitals
and bases," and from half-octagonal responds.
The 14th-century north arcade is of freestone with
ironstone intermingled, and has octagonal piers with
moulded capitals and bases : the bases stand on big
square plintlis and the capitals difTer only slightly
in detail. The loftier outer arcade*' is also of four
bays, with octagonal piers" whose capitals exhibit
considerable variety of moulding : in that of the
westernmost pier the nail-head ornament occurs, but
it is probably old work re-used. The arches of both
the north arcades are of two chamfered orders.
The clearstory over the outer arcades has square-
headed windows of two trefoiled lights, four on the
north side and five on the south.'"
The south aisle wall, though rebuilt, retains its
13th-century doorway, much restored, with arch of
three orders, the innermost moulded, and the others
with hollow chamfers stopped above quirked imposts.
The jambs below the tv/o outer orders have shafts
with foliated capitals and moulded bases, with smaller
attached shafts between, the inner jambs being simply
rounded. The 15th-century east window of the
aisle is of three cinquefoiled lights, with vertical
tracery, and the 14th-century easternmost window
of the south wall of four trefoiled lights and geo-
metrical tracery ; three other windows in this wall are
of three lights with ogee heads and reticulated
tracery ; but the two-light west window of the aisle
appears to be of late 13th-century date, with forked
mullion and quatrefoil in the head. The porch has
been entirely rebuilt, but retains a restored 13th-
century outer doorway of two chamfered orders, the
inner on half-round responds with moulded capitals
and label terminating in pretty carved stops. The
porch has side windows of two lights and battlemented
parapets.
The 15th-century west window of the outer north
aisle is of three cinquefoiled lights with four-centred
head and vertical tracery ; it is flanked externally by
niches, that on the south with cusping and finial,
the other with a plain pointed head. The other
windows of the aisle are square-headed, of three
trefoiled lights, with double chamfered jambs and
rounded rear arches. The pointed north doorway
has continuous hollow and sunk chamfers divided by
a casement.
The eastern bays of the outer aisles have been
restored as chapels, that on the north, known as the
Chapel of Remembrance, contains memorials of the
•° The windows were rc-used and as
much of the old masonry as possible.
' At this time all woodwork, other than
Gothic, was turned out, most of the old
paving was replaced by modern tiles,
and the memorial stones placed in the
Lady chapel ' : H. K. Fry, Highant
Ffrreri Church, 1 1.
" The organ wat finally transferred to
the loft in 192$.
*' Except to the north aisle, where the
parapet is plain.
*' The mullions have flat, foliated capi-
tals. •* Fry, op. cit. 12.
** Churches of Archd. of Northampt. 1 1 :
Bloxam, Coihic Arch, (nth ed.), ii, 230.
^"^ This doorway forms the only means
of access to the clinpcl from the (juirc as
the arches arc filled, one by the tomb and
the other with the stalls and screen work,
Churches of Archd. of Northampt. 13.
^' The bases of the middle and eastern-
most piers are new ; elsewhere all the
old stones were re-used.
^* The height to the underside of the
capitals is nearly 8 ft. : in the middle
arcade the corresponding height is about
6 ft. 6 in.
*" The diameter of tlie piers is 21 in.,
those of the middle arcade 22 in.
^^ The roof in each case is spaced to
five bays.
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Hicham Ffrrers Church from the North-east
T
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Hicham Firrers Chlkch : 'I'hl Interior, showing Screen of Chancel from Chapel
BOROUGH OF HIGHAM FERRERS
war of 1914-18, wliile the Cliapcl of the Kingdom, in
the south aisle, is set apart for intercession for work
overseas." In the latter is a trcfoil-lieaded piscina
with beautiful foliated cusping and label terminations
and fluted bowl. Below the eastern portion of the
aisle is a small ijth-century crypt, or bonc^hole,
10 ft. 10 in. square, originally vaulted in four compart-
ments, but now covered with a modern brick barrel
roof, access to wiiich is by a doorway and stair in
the south wall."-
The west window of the main north aisle is of
five cinquefoiled lights, with plain intersecting tracery
and pointed trefoils above the cusping.
The Lady chapel has a tall ogee-headed east
window of five trcfoiled lights, with reticulated
tracery and canopied niche over, similar in type to
the east window of tlie chancel, but less elaborate
in character."'' Tiie two contemporary north windows
are respectively of tiiree and five lights, the larger one,
towards the east, being similar to tiiat at the west end
of the inner north aisle, and the other like those in
the south aisle. The east wall of the chapel is flush
with that of the chancel, with a buttress of two stages
between the windows, the eastern end of the church
thus consisting of two equal low-pitched gables. The
chapel retains at its east end the original sacristry,
formed by screening off a portion, 8 ft. wide, with a
solid wall against which the chapel altar w.is placed.
A trefoil-headed ogee piscina, with plain bowl,
remains in the usual position immediately west of the
screen wall. The organ loft is over the west portion
of the chapel.
The tower is of three main stages, with moulded
plinth, pierced parapet and angle pinnacles. The
whole of the south side, the south-west and south-
east buttresses and the upper stage were rebuilt in
I63I-32,''' and though much of the old masonry was
re-used and the chief architectural features retained,
the work shows unmistakable signs of its late origin.
The south buttresses, which were rebuilt on a larger
scale and carried up four stages to the spring of the
arches of the bell-chamber windows, are asthetically
detrimental to the otherwise graceful lines of the
tower, the appearance of which, as left by the 13th-
century builders, must have been of exceptional
beauty. The original work, however, survives
uninjured in the lower stages on the west and north
sides.
The double west doorway is covered by a shallow
recessed porch (1 1 ft. 6 in. by 4 ft. 6 in.), with pointed
outer arch of two richly moulded orders on shafts
with foliated capitals. The heads of the two inner
doorways are low segmental arches, the moulding of
which is continued down the jambs, and round each
opening are carved the foliage and half-figures of a
Tree of Jesse, the main stem of which, rising between
them, blossoms into a rich foliated capital, supporting
an ornamental bracket and housing for a lost image of
Our Lady and Child. The sides of the porch, which
is recessed in the thickness of the wall, have arcades
of two trefoilcd arches on shafts with moulded
capitals and bases, above which a chamfered mid-arch
springs from moulded corbels supported by heads.
The surface of the pointed barrel vault on either side
of the mid-arch is completely covered with a rich
diaper, except at the bottom of tiie outer compart-
ment on tlic north side, where there is a sculptured
figure of a man in the stocks playing a musical
instrument. Above the heads of tiie inner doorways
is a moulded stringcourse, which, breaking round the
bracket, forms the base of a pointed tympanum, the
middle part of which was occupied by tiie Virgin's
statue. The space behind the statue is plain for about
two-thirds of its height, above which the surface is
diapered, the trefoilcd head inclosing a sun and moon.
Tiie remainder of the tympanum on either side of the
central figure is carved in low relief, with a scries of
roundels, or medallions, five on each side, in which
the following subjects are represented : North side
(rt) the Visitation, (A) the Annunciation, (c) the
Adoration of the Three Kings, {d) our Lord among the
Doctors, (c) our Lord's baptism ; South side {a) the
Adoration of the Shepherds, (h) the Crucifixion,
(f) the Vision of Zacharias, (d) the three Marys at
the Tomb, {e) the harrowing of Hell."^
The 13th-century window above the porch is of
two trefoilcd lights within an arch of two chamfered
orders on shafted jambs ; in the spandrel is a seated
figure of our Lord in glory. The window may have
been originally higher in the wall, and the porch
probably had a gable over it.
Between the porch and the north-west buttress
are two trefoilcd wall arches on banded shafts, one
over the other, but the corresponding treatment on
the south side was destroyed in the 17th century,
though an image bracket, together with one on the
north side, remains. The original coupled north-
west buttresses are of two stages with gabled heads
terminating in grotesque figures. In the lower stage
of the tower on the north side is a 13th-century
trefoilcd wall arcade and a window of two plain
lancet lights within a containing arch, the spandrel
carved with the figure of a man playing on a pipe and
tabor. The shafts of the arcade and window are
banded and have moulded capitals and bases. Re-
mains of a similar arcading survive in the reconstructed
lower stage on the south side. In the middle stage
facing north is a 13th-century window of two plain
lancets within a trefoilcd chamfered arch on shafts
with foliated capitals, but on the south side the wall
is blank.
The bell-chamber windows are the old ones re-
used : they consist of two lancet lights with transoms,
set within a pointed arch of two moulded orders on
shafts with carved capitals and moulded bases. The
lancets have shafted jambs and a triple mid-shaft, and
from the hoodmould a string runs round the tower.
The 14th-century parapet rests on an older corbel
•' Fry, op. cit. 12.
•■ The crypt is lighted by a window on
the cast side : the short vaulting shafts
remain.
*' The mullions and tracery arc un-
moulded. E. A. Freeman, writing in
1849, says ' the lower part, apparently
at a later date, has been cut off by a
transom/ Churches oj Archd. Northampt.
8. The transom has been removed.
"* Two panels, formerly on the west
face of the tower, are now inside the
church. The first records that the
' steeple was begun to be builded ' 20
April 1631 : it was one of two panels
flanking the clock. The inscription in-
tended for a second panel was forgotten,
275
but later was engraved on a stone, for
some time lodged in one of the niche*
lower down ; it records the completion
of the tower in November 1632 : Fry,
op. cit. 5.
*^ The last is shown in the usual con-
ventional way by the open jaws of a
monster, and in the angle is a very tmall
figure holding a hatchet.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
table and consists of a series of pierced quatrefoils.
From the pinnacles pierced flying buttresses are
carried to the spire, the angles of which are ribbed
and crocketed. There are three sets of gabled spire
lights on the cardinal faces, the bottom one tran-
somed and of two lights with 14th-century tracery:
on the east side is an ogee-headed doorway behind the
parapet. The whole of this work, in its present form,
dates from 1632, though the old wrought stones have
been re-used.
The 13th-century tower arch to the nave is of four
chamfered orders springing from attached shafts on
each side with moulded capitals and bases, the larger
of the shafts having a fillet at the apex. Above the
arch is a shouldered opening, and the line of the
original high-pitched roof remains on the east side.
Between the tower arch and the north arcade, at
HicirA>.r Ff.rkexs Church : Tun Font
ground level, is a 13th-century wall arch on shafts
with moulded bases and capitals, in one of which tlie
nail-head ornament occurs.'" Tiie vice was originally
in the south-west angle of the tower, with communica-
tion over the west doorwav to another in the north-
west angle, but access to this is now obtained by a
modern stairway" with external doorway in the
angle of the north aisle.
The fine early 15th-century rood screen has four
traceried openings on eacli side of the entrance, with
solid lower panels, battlemented cornice and moulded
stiles and rails. The modern cove, traceried loft
and the rood with attendant figures were designed
by Mr. J. N. Comper. There is no original rood-loft
stair or doorway. In the west bay of tlic chancel are
seven stalls on each side and three return stalls.
The return stalls and three on the south side have
original traceried fronts, but the other fronts are
modern. There are also four original standards
with moulded and carved tops. All the stalls retain
their misericords, the centrepieces and supporters
of which are carved in a variety of subjects ; among
these are an angel holding a shield with the arms of
Archbishop Chicheley, a pelican, the heads of a king,
a bishop and others, a lion, pelican, phoenix-winged
serpent, foliage, etc. The arms of the see of Canter-
bury are on one of the supporters.
Behind the north range of stalls a 15th-century
traceried screen of seven openings fills the arch to
the Lady chapel, but the enclosing screen at the west
end of the chapel is modern. There are also parclose
screens round the chapels at the east end of the outer
aisles: that to the north chapel is modern" at
the west end, but its south side is of 15th-century
date, with doorway and traceried openings, carved
cornice and solid lower panels. The south chapel
screen is rather later, with two tiers of panels
below the traceried openings, the bottom tier
having linen pattern ornament. Both these
screens have been restored to their places after
having been mutilated and converted into pews."
The pulpit and seating are modern. ^ The 15th-
century font has an octagonal bowl with carving
on tlie four major faces, on attached sliafts with
moulded bases, and chamfered plinth.
In the tower window recess are four 13th-
century coffin lids.
The monument on the north side of the chancel
mentioned as probably having been erected by
Henry Earl of Lancaster includes the battlemented
arch already described as forming the canopy of
the tomb, its end buttresses being taken up as
pinnacles. The canopy preserves a considerable
amount of its original colour,- but the tomb itself
was altered in the 17th century, probably when
Lawrence St. Maur's brass was placed there.
Two of the four shields of arms' on each side
may be reproductions in stone of the four brass
shields now missing from the slab, and the
pilasters between are clearly of the 17th century.
The stone containing St. Maur's brass was no doubt
originally in the chancel floor but was placed in its
present position in 1633.* The brass is that of a
priest in mass vestments below a canopy, but the
border is imperfect : above the figure is our Lord
and four Apostles, and the inscription below reads :
' Hie jacet Lawren' de Sni ISLiuro quonda rector
istius ecre cui' an' ppiciet' dns'.^
In the chancel, north of the altar, is the brass of
Richard W'ylleys (1523.O, warden of the college, in
cope, and soutli of the altar that of another ecclesiastic
the inscription of wliich is lost. There are several
brasses in the Lady chapel ; the oldest commemorates
Thomas Chicheley (d. 1400) and Agnes his wife,
parents of the Archbishop, on which is a floriated
Latin cross with the figure of our Lord in the centre
•* There it a larger nail head in the ab.ici.
•' The projecting itairway bccomei
octagonal above and ia carried up .ns a
turret, with a figure of Archbiihop
Chichclc on top.
" It datci from 1923 and ii in mcrriorjr
of Cecil Crew, lomciime Native Com-
miiiioner in Southern Khodriia. It wai
deiigncd by .Mr. W. Talbot Brown.
" Fry, op. cit. 12.
' Freeman in 1S49 recorded th.it there
were ' a few remains of open scats in the
north aisle,' but with this exception the
church w.is pcwcd throughout. There
was a west gallery, which completely hid
the tower arch : Churchn of Archd.
Sorthftmpi. 17.
' The beci have been .nlready noted.
"The shields are (1) Engl.md, (2) Lan-
caster, (3) Two chcvronels and label of
three points, (4) chequy with a canton
chetjuy.
* I-'ry, op. cit. 10.
* This and the other brasses in the
church are figured and described in
Franklin Hudson's Mon, Braises 0/
Northanls. 1853.
276
BOROUGH OF HICHAM FERRERS
and the emblems of the four Evangelists at the
extremities of the arms. Another, with double canopy,
represents thearchbisliop's brother, William Chicheley
(d. 1425) and Beatrice his wife, tlie man in civilian
dress : it has a long border inscription in English
and the emblems of the Evangelists at the corners."
Near to it is the brass of William Thorpe, merchant
(d. 1504) and Marion his wife, two small figures,
the man in civilian dress, with scrolls, groups of six
sons and six daughters and the Evangelists' symbols.
Other brasses in the Lady chapel without date or
inscription comprise a civilian, a woman (imperfect)
and a child ; there is also the indent of a female figure.
In the south aisle chapel, near the altar, is the brass
of Henry Denton, chaplain of Chelveston (d. 1498),
who is represented in mass vestments.
There is no medieval glass.
At tlie west end of the north aisle are two suits of
17th-century town armour suspended from iron
stanchions fixed to the wall. Each suit consists of
breast and back plates, to which are attached a pair of
broad taces. There is also a pikeman's steel cap, with
low comb and broad flat brim.'
In the chapel at the east end of the outer north
aisle is a 16th-century iron chest with an elaborate
lock and two large siiields of arms painted on the
front, one with the double-headed eagle of the Empire.*
There is a scratch dial on one of the buttresses of
the soutli wall of the chancel.
Tiiere are eight bells, two trebles by Taylor of
Loughborough having been added in 1 892 to a
former ring of six. The third is by Robert Taylor &
Co., of St. Neots, 1820, the fourth and sixtii re-
castings by Taylor in 1892, the fifth an alphabet
bell dated 161 1, the seventh dated 1636, and the
tenor 1633.°
The plate consists of two silver cups and cover
patens of 1653 given to the church in that year by
John Boughton ; there is also a pewter flagon, and
brass alms dish.i"
The registers begin in 1589 : the first volume con-
tains entries to 1641, the second 1653-1693, the third
1694-1742, and the fourth 1742-1801.
To the west of the tower is a 14th-century church-
yard cross II ft. high on a Calvary of four circular
steps ; the shaft, square below and above, is splayed
for the greater part of its length so as to form an
irregular octagon, with sliglitly hollowed sides, orna-
mented on the broader faces with oak-leaf foliage
and on the narrower with ball flowers, leaves, and
crockets. The head was restored in 1919, and a
Calvary group (west) and figure of our Lady and
Child (east) added to the capital."
The church of Higham Ferrers is
ADVOWSON dedicated to the honour of St. Mary
the Virgin.'- It may be assumed
tliat there was a church here in 1086, when there
was a priest in the manor of William Pevcrel.*'
He gave the church to the priory of his own foundation
at I.enton*'' before 1113,'" but thougli tliis grant was
confirmed by Henry I and later kings," as also by
Innocent 111," the church formed part of the forfeited
possessions of the younger William Peverel. Richard I
presented to it, and when in 1 237 William de Ferrers
claimed the advowson as an appurtenance of his
manor of Higham Ferrers he won his suit.'*
The plea and judgment in the suit are interesting.
The earl pleaded tliat King John had given to William
de Ferrers, Earl of Derby, Higliam with the hundred
and a half and otlier their appurtenances, and the
carl quitclaimed the rest of the lands formerly of
William Peverel to the king. The judgment in the
earl's favour was based on the points that the manor
was in the hands of King Richard when he presented,
and King John afterwards gave the manor to the earl
with all its appurtenances and the advowson was an
appurtenance of the manor. The church descended
with the manor (q.v.) until in 1354 Henry Duke of
Lancaster obtained licence to make it part of the
endowment of and appropriate it to the Hospital of
the Annunciation which his father had founded at
Leicester," and he was about to convert into a college.-"
It belonged to that house when in 1422 Archbishop
Chicheley obtained licence to found his college at
Higham Ferrers,^' which he described nine years
later as established on condition that for all future
times its master or warden should be presented to
the perpetual vicarage of the parish church of Higham
Ferrers by the dean and chapter of the Newark
college and bound to continual residence and the
cure of souls there.-- In 1535 the church of Higham
Ferrers was amongst the spiritualities of the College
of Newark, Leicester,-' and eight years later Henry
VIII granted it to Robert Dacres, of Cheshunt,^
Master of the Requests and one of his Privy
Councillors.
From Robert, who died that year, the advowson
of Higham Ferrers descended through his son George,
and grandson, Sir Thomas Dacres, of Cheshunt, to
his great-grandson Thomas,^^ whose right of presenta-
• This brass was rep.iircd and parts
renewtd in igzj : the date of death is
recorded by a modern inscription.
' Assoc. Arch. Soc. Rep. xxxvi, qj, where
the armo-jr is figured and described. It
was brought to the church from the old
Town Hall at its demolition. The date
of the armour is c. 1650.
' The chest was the gift of Mrs. Mack-
worth Dolben.
• North, Ch. Bells of Northaius. 305,
where the inscriptions on the old bells
are given. There is also a priest's bell of
1660.
'" Markham, Cb. Plate of Korthants.
158.
" Assoc. Arch. Soc. Rep. xxiii, 178.
The capital is square and deep, with
plain moulded members below and tri-
angular ornaments on the four facet.
The shaft is S ft. high, of Wcldon stone,
the steps of local ironstone.
*^ Iltst. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, app. 9,
p. 532 ; Bridges, His:. Sorihanis. ii, 173 ;
Bacon, Lih. Re^. 824.
■> y.C.H. Northants. i, 336*.
" Chart. R. 141, m. 9, no. 7.
*^ He died in June, 11 13. Complete
Veera^e (New Ed.), iv, 771.
'» Ch.nrt. R. loc. cit.
" Cal. Pap. Reg. Letters, i, 18.
" Bracton's Note Bk. 1236; Rot. Rob.
Crossetesle (Cant, and York Soc), 178,
196.
"• Inq. a.q.d. file 313, no. 1 ; Pat. R.
29 Edw. in, pt. I, m. 22; Close R.
30 Edw. Ill, m. I2d.
" Dugdale, .l/on. Angl. vi, 1397.
"VClI. .\orthanis. ii, 177-79; Cal.
Pat. 1422-29, p. 472.
277
*2 Cal. Pap. Re^. Letters^ viii, 330-31 ;
Stowe MS. m. 59-62.
23 Valor F.ccles. (Rcc. Com.), iv, 169-70.
" Pat. R. 34 Hen. MH, pt. 7, no. 10.
In this grant, which included the rever-
sion of certain messuages and lands in
Higham Ferrers, formerly of Archbishop
Chichelcy's college and leased by the last
master and two of his predecessors, and
which was accompanied with the condition
of tiie maintenance of two chaplains in
the parish church and a schoolmaster in
the town {see above) : the advowson ii
described as one of the possessions of
the Higham Ferrers college.
'* Clutterbuclc, Herts, ii, loi ; Berry,
Cotintv Genealogies^ Hens, 66 ; Cussans,
Herts, i, pt. iii, 188 ; Feet of F. Div. Cos.
Hil. 7 Jas. I; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. ii)
ccclix, 119 ; Ct. of Wards, file 54, no. I18.
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
tion was usurped, in 1631 by Archbishop Abbot and
in 1635 by Laud.-* In 1662, however, this second
Sir Thomas Dacres had recovered the patronage,-'
and two years later, with his son Thomas and grand-
son Robert, made a settlement in which the church
of Higham Ferrers was included.-* Robert was
seised of it in 1670,-' 1676 and 1691.'" A petition
dated 12 February 1725-6, was presented to his son
and heir Thomas, then patron, by the townsfolk of
Higham Ferrers, in which they claimed fulfilment of
his promise to allow them the choice of the next
vicar,^^ which he did by presenting the candidate of
their recommendation.^- Within the next ten years
he seems to have sold the advowson to the Earl of
Malton, afterwards Marquis of Rockingham,^ patron
in 1735 and 1745.*^' From his son and heir, Charles
Marquis of Rockingham, Prime Minister of England,
who died without issue in 1782, the advowson came
to the grandson of the first Marquis, William Went-
worth, fourth Earl Fitzwilliam,'^ patron in 1800.
His son, Charles William, Earl Fitzwilliam, patron in
1838,'* was succeeded by his third son, the Honourable
George Wentworth Fitzwilliam of Milton, Peter-
Dacru of Cheshunt.
Or a chei'fron sable
bel-uweti jbri-e roundels
gules eaeh charged tvitb
a scallop argent.
Watson, Marquis of
Rockinghnm. Argent a
cbeveron azure bcKveen
three martlets sable wtth
three crescents or upon
the cbeveron.
Fitzwilliam. Lozengy
argent and gules.
borough, since whose death in 1874. his son, George
Charles Wentworth Fitzwilliam, of Milton, has been
patron.^'
The rectory of Higham Ferrers followed the descent
of the advowson (q.v.) down to the dissolution of the
college of Newark. It had been leased with a burgage
lying to the south of the rectory house and also tlie
rectories of Caldecote and Chelveston by the dean of
the college in 1 5 30 for 40 years to Laurence Washing-
ton and Elizabeth his wife. In 1567 Queen Elizabeth
granted a lease to John Jones for a term of 21 years
from the expiration of the lease to Washington.
Further leases in reversion were granted by the Crown
in 1570 to Nicholas Stere for 31 years, and in 1574
to John Jones for 21 years. The interests under these
leases seem to have been acquired by Christopher
Freeman, who in 1602 obtained a lease for his life and
the lives of Martha his wife and his sons Ralph and
George.** In 1606 he had a grant of the chapels,
messuages, mills, glebe lands, tithes, etc., in the
parishes of Higham Ferrers, Chelveston and Calde-
cote, parcel of the said rectory.^ An action was
brought in the Court of Chancery by Henry, son of
Christopher Freeman, regarding the liability to
repair the chancel of Higham Ferrers church. The
plaintiff, Henry Freeman, admitted his liability as
owner of the rectory, but claimed that Christopher
Rudd and i\Iartin Creake as lessees had allowed the
chancel to fall into decay and ruin. It appears that
Christopher Freeman, by his will dated in 1610, left
the parsonage house, tithes, etc., to his wife Martha,
for life, with remainder to Ralph his son and heir.
Martha afterwards married Anthony Herenden, and
then neglected to repair the chancel, but being
threatened with proceedings in the Ecclesiastical
Court, leased the tithes to Christopher Rudd and
Martin Creake. The lessees held them for some ten
years before the death of Martha in 1621. Ralph
Freeman having predeceased Martha without issue,
he was succeeded by his brother Henry, the plaintiff,
who had to disburse 200 marks on repairs to the
chancel, for which he sued the lessees Rudd and
Creake.'"' Another Henry Freeman owned the rectory
in l68i.''i In 1696 one moiety belonged to James
Johnson and his wife Judith, and this or the other
moiety was held by Susan Wickham, widow, in 1714.*^
Both belonged to Thomas Dacres in 1731, and have
since descended with the advowson (q.v.).
The chapel of Jesus in Higham Ferrers was included
in the grant to Robert Dacres and still owned by his
heirs in 1731.
The following charities are ad-
CHJRITIES ministered by the Mayor of Fligham
Ferrers and 11 other trustees in
conformity with a scheme of the Charity Commis-
sioners dated 3 April 1914, under the title of the
United Charities : —
Charity of Archbishop Henry Chicheley for Bedes-
men founded under a licence from the Crown in 1422,
originally consisted of the Bedehouse and Garden
Ground and an annual charge of ^^24 10;. out of land
belonging to Robert Dacres. The endowment is now
represented by ^^890 8s. %d. New Zealand 4 per cent.
Inscribed Stock, ^^239 zs. id. India 3 per cent. Stock
and a yearly payment of j^4 by the Corporation of
Higham Ferrers.
" Init. Bki. (P.R.O.). Bolh prclatci
held that the advowson belonged to
Canterbury (S. P. Uom. Chai. I, ccxriii,
128).
" In.t. Bki. (P.R.O.).
«• Feet of I', Uiv. Coi. Trin. 16 Cha.. II.
"Ibid. Mich. 12 Chai. II.
•« Init. Bki. (PRO.).
" Norihanis. N. and Q. i, 34-5.
" In.t. Bk.. (P.R.O.).
"See Rccov. R. Hil. 5 Geo. II, ro. 135.
He is said to have sold the college estates,
included in the grant of the advowson to
Robert Dacres, to the Earl in 1734-
Whellan, Hist. Northants. ()|6.
'* Bacon, Lib. Regis. 824-25.
•^ Complete Peerage (New Ed.) luc. cil ;
Burke, Peerage, 1927.
*• Act Priv. and Loc. 40 Geo. Ill, cap.
36 i I Vict, cap II.
" Cler. Guide ; Clergy List ; Burke,
loc. cit.
'» Pat. R. 44 Eliz. pt. 33, m. 17.
" Ibid. 4 J.ii. I, pt. iq.
*" C'han. Prnc. (Scr. ii), cccxiviii, 14.
«■ Ibid.
*' Kccov. R. E,ist. 33 C'has. II, ro. 169.
Feet of V. Northants. Trin. 8 Will, and
Mary ; Trin. I Geo. I.
278
BOROUGH OF HICHAM FERRERS
Nicholas Latham's Dole consists of a yearly pay-
ment of j^3, paid by the bailiff of Parson Latham's
Hospital in Barnwell. Nicholas Latham died about
1620.
The Honourable Lewis Watson about the year 1708
gave £50.
Elizabeth Frei-man, by her will dated 18 Tcbruary
'7'5. g-i^'-'^^o.
Richard W'aijstaff, who died in August 1 747, by
his will gave 20/. a year to the poor and 10/. yearly to
the minister for a sermon. The endowments of the
three last mentioned charities consist of 2 acres of
land known as Thorp End Close, which produced
£7 i6s. 6d. in 1924.
John Dewberry's charity originally consisted of a
yearly sum of j^i which had long been paid as a rent-
charge issuing out of land belonging to Earl Fitz-
william. This charge was redeemed in 1914 by the
transfer of £^0 Consols to the Official Trustees.
.Ann Sanders, who died in July 1804, gave ^^50 to
the poor, and
Mrs. Maskell, by her will dated about 1819, gave
;£20. These two gifts are now represented by
£6() lis. gJ. India 3 per cent. Stock.
George Newman, by his will proved in the Preroga-
tive Court of Canterbury 3 November 1855, gave
such part of his personal estate as he could lawfully
b'^queath for charitable purposes for the support of
six poor almswomen. The legacy, together with
accumulations, was invested in ^^5,834 12^. c)d. India
3 per cent. Stock.
Selina Dennis Pressland, by her will proved in the
Peterborough Registry, 3 June 1891, gave ^^3,000 for
the benefit of poor widows. The legacy was invested
in ;^3,030 6s. id. Consols.
The gross income of the charities amounted to
;^3i3 is. 6d. in 1924.
The yearly income of the charity of Archbishop
Cliicheley is applied in stipends to 13 bcdespeople,
being 12 men and one woman. ^^33 13/. was so ap-
plied in 1924.
There are six almswomen who receive a stipend at
the rate of 8/. per week. They occupy almshouses
which are held on a yearly tenancy from the Cor-
poration at a rent of ^51.
A stipend of not less than ^^5 yearly is paid to each
of not more than 15 poor widows called the Pressland
Widows.
The residue of the income of tlie charities is applied
for the benefit of the poor generally at tlie discretion
of the trustees.
.Archbishop Chichclcy before-mentioned also pro-
vided for the maintenance of two chaplains. In
respect of this a sum oi £1$ a year is paid to the vicar
in augmentation of the vicarage out of the estates of
Earl Eitzwilliam.
By her will Mrs. Wilde, who died about 1814, gave
£'}o to the poor. .\ sum of ,^27 was received by the
vicar in respect of this legacy and the interest amount-
ing to ^l js. was distributed in bread during winter.
Owing to the insolvency of the holder this charity
has been lost.
By an award, dated 27 December 1839, of the In-
closure Commissioners 9 a. I r. 31 p. of land situate
in the beast pasture was allotted to six trustees for
the use of the inhabitants as a recreation ground.
In 1910 the trust was transferred to the Town
Council of Higham Ferrers. The land is let for
grazing at a rent of £j per annum, which is applied
in the upkeep of the gates and fences.
The Church Land. By the award above-mentioned
6 a. I r. 1 1 p. of land in the beast pasture was allotted
to the churchwardens for the benefit of the church.
The land is let in allotments to about 50 tenants and
produced ^16 6j. 8d. in rent in 1924. The income
is applied to church maintenance.
By declaration of trust dated 13 July 1910 a sum
of ;^2oo India 2j per cent. Stock was transferred to
the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds by John
Crew, of the Manor House, upon trust that the divi-
dends should be applied by the vicar and church-
wardens towards the repair of the church. The
dividends amount to £^ per annum.
By an indenture dated 20 March 1866 it was
declared that the interest to arise from a sum of £100
given by Mrs. Ann Burgess should be applied in pro-
viding clothing for one or more needy local preacher or
preacliers of the Wesleyan Society in Higham Ferrers
Circuit. The gift was invested in ^{^88 gs. lid.
Consols and the income amounting to £2 4J. is
applied in the purchase of suits of clothes every few
years. The last distribution took place in 1893,
when three suits costing ^^lo 101. were distributed to
three recipients.
The several sums of stock are standing in the name
of the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds.
HIGHAM PARK
Park of Hecham (xii cent.). Park of Hegham Ferrers
(xiv cent.).
Higham Park, the park attached to Higham Ferrers
Castle, was formerly extra-parochial and included in
the liberty of Rushden, but is now an independent
parish. It lies in the south-east of Higham Hundred,
on the borders of Bedfordshire and covers 600 acres,
of which 167 acres are in the parish of Knotting in
Bedfordshire. About half the total area is arable land
where wheat, oats, barley beans and turnips are grown
and the remainder permanent grass. The surface is
friable clay, the subsoil Oxford clay witli streaks of
cornbrash. In 1921 the population numbered thirteen
persons.
There has never been a parish church, but there was
a chapel attached to the Great Lodge of the Park which
fell into decay with the house.
The park was at one time surrounded by a ditch.
The principal entrance was on its north-west side by
the road leading indirectly from Rushden. A moated
inclosure, now partially destroyed, marks the site of
the Great Lodge, where the keeper of the park lived.
279
A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
It was described as in Rushden in 1327* and consisted
in the 15th century of a hall, chapel, chamber, kitchen,
brewhouse and bakehouse.^ There were a dovecot^
and two fishponds* in the grounds. Besides the Great
Lodge there was a Little Lodge or New I,odge which
stood in the i6th century at the south end of the
park.* The present Old Hall, now a farm house, was
possibly built on a new site when the Great Lodge
fell into decay in the time of the Commonwealth.^ At
the end of the i8th century the Great Lodge was
known as Higham Park House. The park was said in
1649 to be well wooded and to contain many valuable
trees. It was, however, disparked by 1671' and the
land converted into arable and pasture.
The earliest mention of the park seems to belong to
the I2th year of Henry II (1166), when tlie sheriff of
Northamptonshire owed ^15 16^. lojW. for the ex-
change of the park of Higham.*
King John's grant of Higham Ferrers to the Earl of
Derby shows, however, that the King's great-grand-
father, Henry I, had acquired the park from the elder
William Peverel and that it remained part of the royal
demesne until 1199.^ It was enlarged in or before
1 166 by Henry II, who inclosed within it certain lands
for which he gave in exchange to tlie tenants, Ricliard
and William de Newton and Aleswas or Halenod
Bochard, land elsewhere in the same fee.'" Thence-
forward payment on this account was made yearly
into the Exchequer.^' After the grant of 11 99 these
three knights redeemed their old inheritance and the
lands they had held in exchange were absorbed in the
manor of Earl Ferrers. '^ Higham Park, thus reduced
to its earlier dimensions, followed the descent of the
manor of Higham Ferrers (q.v.) until 1672. In 1298
and again in 1327 it is called the park of Rushden, of
which parish it formed part until the latter part of the
last century, but later in the 14th and throughout
most of the 17th century it was generally known as
Higham Ferrers Park. In 1406, Henry IV leased its
herbage and pannage to Thomas Beston and the parker
was charged to provide him with a key of the gate of
the park that he might have free entry with ins cattle. l'
Two leases of the same for twenly-one years were
made by James I in 1604, first to William Purvey
and afterwards to Sir John Stanhope, vice-cham-
berlain of his household. These leases included
the warren of the park, all buildings there and the
office of keeper. These were followed, early in the
next year, by a grant in socage of Higham Ferrers Park
to Sir George Hume, Chancellor of the Exchequer.^*
In 16:0 Sir John Stanhope, now Lord Stanhope,
surrendered his claim to the park of Higham Ferrers in
Northamptonsliire and Bedfordshire to the king for
j^400.** William Purvey was dead, but his lease was
still in force when a fresh one was granted in 1618 to
John Levingston, groom of the bedchamber, for life
and twenty-one years beyond. 1® This was to come
into force in March 1624, and in this month instruc-
tions given a year before were renewed to Sir Thomas
Tresham, verderer of Rockingham Forest, to report
on the game and woods in Higham Ferrers Park. He
found great disorder prevailing, and the new keeper
refused to take charge until a survey had been made."
In the following November Sir Robert Osborne was
ordered to examine the deer-stealers from Higham
Ferrers Park, and three weeks later steps were taken
to arrest Edward Ekins who was chiefly responsible
for the outrages there.'* The park formed part of the
jointure of Queen Henrietta Maria in 1630." Sir
John Levingston had died more than three years
bcforCj^" and in or about 1632 his widov/, who then
held the remainder of his
lease, petitioned Charles I to
renew it to her son,^' presum-
ably the James Levingston,
groom of the bedchamber, in
1625,^2 who leased the keeper-
ship of the park to Francis
Dyn in 1649.^'
A later lessee. Sir Robert
Long, bart., Auditor of the
Exchequer, exchanged his in-
terest for permanent posses-
sion in 1672, when he paid
j{j8oo for the grant in free socage of Higham Ferrers
Park with its appurtenances.'''* In the following
year he was succeeded by his nephew and heir Sir
James Long, bart., of Draycot Cerne,^* whose great-
grandson, the third Sir Robert I-ong, was seised in
the latter part of the 1 8th century .'•^^
The Parliamentary Commissioners of 1649 declared
Higham Park to be tithe frc\-,2' but about 60 years later
tithes from this estate belonged to the rectory of
Rushden.-*
Long of Drnycnt. SahU
crusily and a lion ardent.
' Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. Ill, file 6, m. 27.
' Rev. W. J. I!. Kerr, Higham Ferrers,
165-9.
• Ibid. 164.
' Ibid. 163 : Pari. Surv. Nortliants.
no. 34.
' Kerr, op. cit. 169.
• Pari. Surv. NorthanU. no. 34.
' Cal. S. P. Dom. 1671-72, 25.
• r,pe Roll 12 Hen. II (Pipe R. Soc.) 64.
• I'inc R, 1 John, rn. 23 ; Pipe Roll, i
John, m. 2d ; Royal Charter* (Duchy of
Lane.) 49.
'» Pipe Roll, 2 John, m. 4d ; Il.irdy, Rot.
dc Ohlal. el Ftn. 61.
" Pipe Roll, 13 Hen. II (Pipe R. Soc.)
1 13 ct scq.
" Pipe R. 2 John, m. 4d.
" Misc. Bks. (Duchy of Lane.) 16,
fol. 52, 65.
'* Pat. R. I Jas. I, pt. 7, m. 29.
>' Feet, of F. Div. Cos. Mil. 8 Ja>. I.
'• Pat. R. ifi Jas I, pt. 1 1, no. 4 ; Cal.
S. P. Dom. 1611-18, p. 597.
" Ibid. 1619-23, p. 539 i 1623-25, pp.
195, 202.
'" Ibid. p. 388 ; 1623-25, p. 407.
'» Pat. R. 5 Chas. I, pt. 15, no. 6.
" Pari. Surv. Northants. no. 34.
"' Cal. S. P. Dom. 1631-33, pp. 476-77.
" Ibid. 1625-26, pp. 23, 195.
" Feet of F. Northants. Hil. 1649.
" Pat. 24 Chas. II, pt. 3, no. 14; Cal.
S. P. Dom., 1671-72, p. 25.
" Complete Baronetage, iii, 257-59.
"' Brid,:;os, Xorthiinis. ii, 194.
*' Pari. Surv. Northants. no. 34.
•» Bridges, loc. cit. ; Hist. MSS. Com.
Rep. MSS. of Mrs. Sackville, i, 4?.
280
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